


Flynn and Carrie's Excellent Adventure

by SquirrelNo2



Series: Instrument of Chaos [7]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 23,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27634655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquirrelNo2/pseuds/SquirrelNo2
Summary: Flynn and Carrie accidentally travel back in time, and their only allies are either Carrie's dad, a ghost who doesn't know Flynn yet, or (worst of all) each other. Will Carrie grow as a person before Flynn snaps? Will Flynn stop insulting Carrie long enough for her to admit to vulnerability?Will they ever make it home?
Relationships: Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Carrie Wilson, Flynn & Carrie Wilson
Series: Instrument of Chaos [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953958
Comments: 340
Kudos: 152





	1. Can't Stop Now

**Author's Note:**

> Oops. I spilled words on the new work form again.  
> Here it is, the one I, at least, have been waiting for! It's so weird writing a story where the characters don't start out friends, but I'm feeling very good about it. You may notice the tag that raises questions of enemies to lovers - I don't know if this will be true Flynn/Carrie because I don't know how Carrie's development will go quite yet. But! The way Phantom Singular wasn't Julie/Luke/Reggie but had Vibes, I can almost guarantee this one will feel Flynn/Carrie by the end because every time I worked on the outline or wrote a scene down building up to this it made me more and more sure that was where I was going. I'll change the tags as this develops, either making it a real enemies to lovers tag or cutting it out entirely, but for now you know! It's a maybe! (Also this makes it the second time in this fic series alone I have written myself into a ship I did not have before. Hey brain? What are you doing?)  
> Also, as a final note. This story has the least amount of Julie of anything ever. It's not a super important note, but I could not let that stand without remarking on it, because I love Julie. However, she just didn't need to be here and if she was this fic would be a lot shorter. She gets cameos.

Carrie arrived home to a silent house. Her dad was gone a lot lately, sometimes to therapy, sometimes to speak with his agent. Carrie wondered if he had a tour planned, but he usually told her about those.

“I’m home,” she muttered to the empty mansion. Predictably, it did not answer back. With a sigh, she laid her bag down and went to the kitchen to grab a snack.

“What the heck?”

Carrie stopped short at the sight of that little metal ball she could have sworn she threw in the trash, sitting innocuously on the counter. Her mind whirled. There were only a handful of people who might be let into the house, and of those people the majority were Dirty Candi. They wouldn’t dare play some stupid joke on her, and there was no reason to.

That left Nick, Julie, and Flynn.

“Flynn,” Carrie growled. She marched over, snatched the ball up, and hurled it across the room, barely taking enough care to aim it away from her dad’s precious memorabilia. With a sigh that threatened to become another growl, Carrie turned back to the counter.

She shrieked. The ball was sitting there, weirdly innocent-looking. Carrie whirled around, and sure enough, the ball wasn’t where it had landed.

“Flynn!” she roared, mostly to make herself feel better. She grabbed the ball and stormed out of her house, planning to track Flynn down and put her obnoxious ex-friend in her place.

Flynn and Julie recruited everybody they could to search. Nick, Carlos, Julie’s dad, and of course the ghosts went poking around everywhere any of them could think of. Julie would search for Ava or Caleb and one of the guys would go where she said, but they never came back with news of the Instrument. By all accounts, Caleb and Ava had parted ways and were living satisfactorily miserable un-lives on opposite ends of the city, completely sans time travel capability.

“This is bad,” Flynn said. She, Julie, and the ghosts had gathered at her house, since if they were about to embark on yet another terrible awful ghost adventure, they needed to at least make sure Flynn’s parents didn’t get mad at her for being gone too long this time. Reggie was poking curiously around the living room, and from the way Julie kept pausing to glare at different points in the room, at least one other ghost was. Flynn’s money was on Luke. She was pretty sure Alex was sitting with Willie in the windowseat.

“I mean, at least even Ava and Caleb together couldn’t make it work,” Julie said. “So if somebody does find it, or picked it up, they probably can’t do anything with it?”

“Yeah,” Flynn said. “Or Caleb and Ava are biding their time. Or what if they already changed things? We’d never know!”

“Pretty sure they’d be more obviously in charge if they’d changed things already,” Willie said. “Caleb wouldn’t let the club go on the way it’s been.”

That was a fair point. Flynn searched her brain for something else to try. Her phone buzzed, and she scrambled to look at it, only to see that it was Nick telling her the school library was another dead end. Flynn sighed. She’d known it was a long shot – how often did she ever go _in_ there, really – but it was the last idea she’d had.

“No luck?” Julie asked. Flynn shook her head, opening her mouth to read Nick’s text, but she was interrupted by a shout from beyond the front door.

“Flynn! I know you’re in there!”

“Is that Carrie?” Julie asked incredulously.

“Who’s Carrie?” Willie said in an undertone. Flynn groaned and stomped out of the room. She was _not_ inviting Carrie in. She’d seen movies; once you let a vampire in, they’d never leave. Flynn would just wake up dead one day.

“What do you want?” Flynn asked as she opened the door. Carrie was standing there, eyes narrowed and arms crossed.

“I should be asking _you_ that,” Carrie snapped. She uncrossed her arms, and Flynn took a horrified step back as Carrie brandished the Instrument, the same stupid magic thing they’d been looking for all afternoon, inches from her nose.

“Carrie, put that down,” Flynn said.

“Fine!” Carrie said, tossing it at Flynn. She flinched, and the ball fell at her feet and started to roll back to Carrie.

“I don’t know _how_ you’re doing this, if it’s some weird magnet trick or something else Julie learned to do with her precious _holograms_ ,” Carrie continued. Flynn watched the Instrument roll to a stop, bumping against Carrie’s feet like an affectionate cat.

“Carrie, just _stop_ ,” Flynn said.

“Oh, no,” she heard Reggie say behind her. Flynn glanced back as he called out, “Hey, Flynn found the Instrument! I guess!” Julie burst into the hall a few seconds later.

“Hey, Carrie!” Julie said with a wild, forced grin. Carrie rolled her eyes.

“Which one of you got the bright idea to do this, anyway? It’s so immature. Some kids’ toy following me isn’t going to freak me out.”

“You know, you’re right!” Julie said hastily. “Such a bad plan, I don’t know what we were thinking. We’ll just take that off your hands…”

Carrie looked down, realising the ball had returned to her again. She let out a short shriek of frustration and picked it up before Flynn or Julie could stop her.

“ _Why_ is it doing this?” she demanded. “What is your problem?”

“Carrie, just give it to me!” Flynn snapped.

“Fine!” Carrie snapped. Then her phone rang, and her free hand immediately flew to her pocket.

“Carrie, give it,” Flynn said again.

“Oh my god, Flynn, one second! It’s my dad, he never has time to call!” Carrie burst out, as though Flynn didn’t remember that. Flynn groaned and lunged for the Instrument.

As soon as she touched it, a low hum filled the air. Flynn’s eyes widened, but it was too late to let go.

She and Carrie were gone from Flynn’s house, transported to wherever and whenever they were thinking of – except Flynn had, at most, been thinking of the same time and place as last time, remembering her visit to the Orpheum and how messed up it had been. And what had Carrie been thinking of?

“What was that?” Carrie asked. Flynn whipped around, taking stock of their surroundings. It looked like a club, maybe? They were way too young to be in here, but maybe as long as they made it clear they were on their way out… “Where are we? Why doesn’t my phone have any service?”

A loud guitar chord pulled Flynn’s attention away. A live band had started to play, and she realised she knew that sound.

“Is that Julie’s band?” Carrie said. “Wow, she can’t even keep a guitarist for long, can she?”

“Shut up, Carrie,” Flynn said automatically.

Carrie had thought of her dad. Flynn had thought of her friends.

There was a limited amount of time and space where those two things overlapped, and Flynn was pretty sure that they’d landed somewhere towards the end.


	2. Looking Like It's Changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn and Carrie shout about a few things. They also ignore a few more things. Flynn sees many of her friends.

“Come on, let’s go,” Flynn said. The last thing they needed was to be busted for being here. She could only imagine how Sunset Curve managed to talk their way into shows, but Flynn did _not_ have that same clout. Not in the ‘90s, anyway.

“Wait, no, where _are_ we? What’s going on? We were at your house and now we’re here!” Carrie refused to be pushed no matter how Flynn shoved at her shoulders. She batted Flynn’s hands away. “Answer me, Flynn!”

“I will explain when we are _out_ of here,” Flynn said. “Deal?”

Carrie glared at her, but she nodded. The two girls wove their way through the crowd, heading for the exit. The door was in sight when Flynn heard Carrie shout. She looked around to see Carrie held back by somebody Flynn assumed was a bouncer.

“Let go of me!” Carrie snapped.

“You girls seem a little young to be in here,” the man said sternly. Flynn debated running for the door, but Carrie had the Instrument, which meant Flynn wasn’t getting home without her.

“We were on our way out, oh my god,” Carrie said. “Like we _want_ to be here? This place is gross, and that music is like a terrible knock-off of my dad’s stuff.”

Flynn felt her soul leave her body.

“Look, we’re going, we were just here to help the guys,” Flynn said quickly. “In the band. I know, Carrie just said she didn’t like it, but she just insults people she likes. Because they’re our friends!”

Flynn shut her mouth before she could channel Julie any further. She was usually much better at this, but to be fair Carrie hadn’t given her anything to work with.

“Friends of the band?” the bouncer said sceptically.

“Yeah,” Flynn said. “What, you thought two teenagers just happened to make it in here on a night that a band full of teenagers is playing?”

He studied her sceptically.

“Ask anybody,” Flynn said. “Luke, Reggie, Alex… Bobby.” She stumbled over the last name a bit, for obvious reasons. Carrie was staring at her as though she was insane.

“Come on then,” the bouncer said as the first song finished. “Let’s go sort this out.”

“Wait, what?” Flynn asked, but he was dragging Carrie away and it wasn’t like she had another option but to follow. She was going to _murder_ Carrie, as soon as they got home and Flynn could be sure Carrie wouldn’t haunt her afterwards.

“You can’t just interrupt them!” Carrie said shrilly, which was surprisingly helpful of her. Flynn couldn’t believe Carrie was willing to help sell the bit. “They’re doing a _show_. Don’t you know basic etiquette?”

 _Less_ _helpful_. _Thanks, Carrie, for your brilliant input_.

“We’ll make it quick,” the bouncer said. “Hey, boys!”

Luke’s hands had been poised over his guitar, all set to play. Reggie cocked his head curiously, Bobby looked annoyed, and Alex was craning his neck over the drums to see what was happening. Flynn wanted to die. She was really going to mess up the timeline now.

“What’s wrong?” Luke asked.

“These girls said they helped you set up,” the man said. Carrie whipped her head around to send Flynn a death glare. Flynn may have deserved that one. She met Luke’s eyes, trying to plead with just her face.

“Yeah, totally,” Bobby said, and Flynn was trying very hard to think of him as Bobby and not weird younger Carrie’s-dad. “That’s… Jennifer and Sarah.”

Flynn tried to look as though these were totally their names. Luke ducked his head, and Flynn hadn’t gotten to see him _that_ much but she knew him well enough to know he was hiding a laugh.

“You called her Carrie,” the bouncer said to Flynn.

“It’s a nickname,” Flynn said quickly.

“Yeah,” Reggie said quickly. “Like the horror movie!”

Flynn’s hand met her forehead with an audible smack. She heard Carrie’s outraged gasp and cringed. This was the worst possible outcome of the evening so far.

“We spilled food colouring on her once,” Bobby said. “She screamed. We were eight.”

This was getting wildly out of hand, and Flynn did _not_ want to leave any more of a lasting impression on Sunset Curve than they already had.

“But now our parents are here to pick us up, and we have to go,” Flynn said. “Bye!” The bouncer was startled enough that he couldn’t hang on to Carrie as Flynn pulled her away. Flynn waved over her shoulder at the guys for good measure as she pulled Carrie through the club one last time, practically running.

“What is going _on?”_ Carrie shrieked as soon as they were clear of the club. Flynn sprinted down the street, looking for an alley that didn’t look like it’d kill them to duck in it and ignoring the looks of bewilderment from the people walking along the sidewalk. Carrie ran after her, noises of frustration growing louder.

“Flynn!” Carrie cried. “Flynn, you jerk!” Flynn stopped, panting, just out of sight of the street. She had only a vague idea of where they were, but that was the least of their problems. Carrie marched up to her and grabbed her arm, hauling her close with yet another death glare.

“How did we get here? Isn’t Julie’s stupid hologram band supposed to be Swedish? Who was that other guy with them?”

“We’re in the past, Carrie,” Flynn said. “That ball thing, it makes you time travel. Why did you have it?”

“I was _trying_ to ask you that,” Carrie said. “This can’t be the past.”

“Yes, it can,” Flynn said. “Look. Look at those people. Their clothes, Carrie, the phone. The cars! Literally everything!”

Carrie shook her head frantically.

“Julie’s band –“ she said.

“Oh, my god,” Flynn said. “They’re not holograms. Or Swedish. You want to know the truth, Carrie?”

“What do you think?” she snapped. “Oh, no, Flynn, I want you to keep _lying_ to me.”

“I have _never_ lied to you,” Flynn snapped. The two girls glared at each other. Flynn clenched her fists, wishing that she’d been sent back in time with literally anybody else. Or not at all, preferably.

“Fine,” Carrie said, looking away. “What is the truth?”

“The guys are ghosts,” Flynn said. “The fourth guy in that band, Sunset Curve? He didn’t die with them, so that’s why you don’t know him.” There was _no_ way she was getting into a fight with Carrie over her dad. That could stay quiet, ideally forever.

“A ghost band?” Carrie repeated. “Time travel and a ghost band? Are you high, or just making fun of me?”

“Carrie, if I was going to make fun of you, I’d make this story easier to believe,” Flynn snapped. Carrie rolled her eyes.

“So that’s why they don’t know you? They haven’t met you yet,” Carrie said. Flynn doubted Carrie really believed her, but at least the obvious fact of teleportation seemed to have finally gotten through to her, and made her willing to play along with the rest of it.

“Yeah,” Flynn said. “I have three friends in the world right now, and they have decided to call me Jennifer.”

“Pretty sure you’re Sarah,” Carrie muttered. Flynn laughed, and then remembered it was Carrie. The two girls eyed each other warily and silently decided not to acknowledge the moment.

“So now what?” Carrie asked finally.

“Pass me the Instrument – the ball. We go home,” Flynn said. Carrie took a step back.

“How do I know you won’t leave without me?” Carrie asked.

“Look, maybe that’s what you would do, but I’m not a freaking demon,” Flynn snapped. “You don’t even know how it works.”

“Like you do?” Carrie muttered, but she dropped it into Flynn’s waiting hand.

Nothing happened.

“No,” Flynn said. “Carrie, put your hand on it.”

Still nothing. Flynn bit her lip, trying not to freak out.

“Ok, it’s about love,” she said. “It’s powered on love. Like a lot of it, and we need to think of home.”

“That’s _all_ I’m thinking about,” Carrie said pointedly. Flynn stared at the ball, trying to ignore the way their fingers brushed around it, willing it to take them home. She wanted to see her parents, Julie, the ghosts, even Nick and Carlos, and shouldn’t that be more than enough love for it to work?

Apparently, it wasn’t. Flynn searched her brain for what else could work. Ghosts, maybe? At least one ghost had been present whenever Flynn time travelled before. Or Julie!

“Maybe it’s magic,” Flynn said reluctantly. “We don’t have that.”

“Oh, great. Magic’s real now, too,” Carrie snapped, pulling her hand back. “I guess ghosts would be magical,” she grumbled.

“Actually, Julie is,” Flynn said absently, inspecting the Instrument. Maybe there was something she’d missed, like a button to press or something – she just needed a reset. To erase this whole drama from the timeline forever.

“Of course she is! Julie gets everything, why _shouldn’t_ she be magic? I notice precious Julie isn’t here! Maybe she got tired of you just like she’s tired of me and got rid of both of us!”

“Shut up, Carrie!” Flynn shrieked. “It’s not all about you. You know why we’re ‘tired of you’? Because you don’t know anything about us except what’s useful for you. You _always_ wanted to be a solo act, and that should have been our first sign that we were nothing to you.

“Don’t you _dare_ say a thing about Julie. I have _one_ childhood friend who stuck by me, and it’s not you. You can deal with your complexes on your own time, but this?” Flynn gestured up and down Carrie’s body. “This is not my problem. Keep Julie’s name out of your mouth until you can grow up. Better yet, keep my name out, too.”

“Grow up? I’m the one who has to work for everything. Julie just gets everything given to her. She didn’t practice for a year and suddenly she’s back in the music program like it never happened? Playing at the Orpheum? I _earned_ everything and she just gets it!”

Flynn stared at her in disgust.

“This is why,” she said. “You may have to practice, Carrie, but you’ve got a rich white dad and a rich white mom somewhere out there. You’re worried that you’re mediocre? You’re right, and yet you still have everything that Julie and I have to be amazing to get. You know how many Black kids are in the music program, Carrie? Because I do, and I can count them on one hand. You got assemblies offered to you because of your _name_. I have to audition every semester. So does Julie. Don’t even try with that.”

Carrie looked like Flynn had just punched her in the face.

“That’s not what I meant,” she said quietly.

“No, but it’s what you said.”

The girls stood in awkward silence for a while. Flynn wasn’t sure where to go from here. They didn’t know anybody, unless she counted their brief meeting with Sunset Curve. She could believe the guys would help them out, especially after that little display with the “horror movie nickname,” but she refused to risk it. They’d _just_ fixed the timeline. Flynn wasn’t going to mess it up again. Besides, Carrie interacting with her younger father could only lead to disaster.

“Pardon me,” somebody said casually, right before slamming into Flynn and sending her stumbling into Carrie’s arms. The girls blinked at each other for a moment, too startled to do anything but hold on, before Flynn sprang away and turned towards the guy who’d slammed into her.

“Sorry, thought you were a lifer,” he said as he got up.

“Willie!” Flynn exclaimed, delighted. Even if he hadn’t looked exactly the same, the skateboard (and the method of meeting, which she was _never_ telling Alex about) was a dead giveaway.

“Flynn? Who are you talking to?” Carrie asked. Willie, for his part, looking confused and troubled by Flynn’s recognition of him.

“Have we met?” he asked. “Wait, you – you _are_ a lifer, aren’t you? You can see me?” He sounded both thrilled and terrified.

Flynn closed her eyes and groaned. This was going to be _such_ a mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short notes today because I'm definitely cutting it close before I leave to teach but: Chaos! Drama! Me addressing the fact that while Carrie may have had to work at music, she is still wrong when she talks about never having been handed things because she's a rich white girl!  
> Also they were not supposed to meet any of the boys yet, it all just kind of happened. Bobby really said "I will certainly lie for these girls I've never seen before" and I did that so you don't all automatically hate him off the bat. I have plans for the Wilson family, folks.  
> Next: Flynn recruits Willie. Carrie is incredibly confused and frustrated.


	3. We Gonna Make History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn tries to explain herself to an old/new friend. Carrie sees no reason to suffer when they have suckers right there.

Carrie was _this_ close to screaming. First she was hallucinating, then Flynn was hallucinating _inside_ her hallucination. Of course Flynn would make this even more difficult. And what was that with the falling? If Flynn wanted to gaze into Carrie’s eyes, she should’ve just been Carrie’s friend for real and not _left_ her in the first place.

“Look, if we get into how I know your name and why I can see you, it’s going to be very complicated and confusing and you’re honestly better off just accepting that this stuff is true and not asking me about it, because I promise it will all make sense _someday_.” Flynn was nervous rambling. Carrie leaned into one hip, arms crossed, wondering how long it would take Flynn to remember Carrie was still there. Typical.

“It’s just a really long story. A boring story! But you can totally trust me. I swear.”

“Flynn!” Carrie snapped, patience gone. “Who are you talking to?”

“You could let me finish my conversation,” Flynn muttered. “This is Willie. He’s a ghost.”

“Right,” Carrie said. They were still on that. “Like Julie’s not-Swedish band.”

“Actually they’re still alive,” Flynn said under her breath. “Right now.”

“Wait, but they look –“ Carrie shook her head, aggressively not thinking about it. “It doesn’t matter what they look like, because this isn’t real.”

“Wait, you think this isn’t _real_?” Flynn asked. “Carrie. I cannot give you that speech again.”

“Ghosts aren’t real!” Carrie burst out.

“Willie, I’m going to hand you this pen, and you’re going to throw it at her, because I am not dealing with this.” Flynn pulled a pen from her bag and held it out. The pen very obviously did not move.

“Right, have fun with that,” Carrie scoffed. She turned away, hoping to find a bus back home, and the pen hit her in the shoulder.

“Flynn!” she shrieked. “What is _wrong_ with you?”

“Seriously?” Flynn said. “When her back was turned? I can’t even look at you right now.”

“You’re really going to look me in the eye after you hit me with a pen and blame it on your imaginary…” Carrie trailed off, horrified. The pen was floating up off the pavement, lifted by an invisible hand which offered it almost apologetically to Flynn. Flynn gave the air in front of her a stern look and took the pen.

“Ok,” Carrie said. “Ok. That’s… really a ghost?”

“His name’s Willie,” Flynn said again. She bit her lip and glanced at the space where he apparently was. “Ok, I know you’ve got… your boss. Do you know anybody else who does magic, though?”

“Flynn!” Carrie said. Flynn shoved her palm in Carrie’s face, and Carrie shoved it down, barely keeping herself from screaming.

“I am trying to listen, can you give me a minute?” Flynn snapped. “I’m sorry, Willie, she had her ability to respect others surgically removed.”

“At least I was born with it,” Carrie retorted. “You never had it to begin with.”

“I respect people who are worth the time,” Flynn said, rolling her eyes. “Willie?”

Carrie pursed her lips, wishing she could just leave Flynn here.

After a moment, Flynn’s eyes widened and she shook her head frantically.

“That’s totally fine, you don’t have to ask him,” she said. _Who?_ Carrie wanted to snap, but she chewed on the inside of her lip, trying to keep it together. “In fact, don’t even mention us. We’ll be gone soon! We can figure this out ourselves, but thanks anyway!”

She turned to go only to stop moving, her arm out like somebody had grabbed it. Carrie felt the scream building up in her chest.

“It’s fine,” Flynn said, sounding sincere for the first time. She reached out with a fond smile. “Thank you.”

“Uh, this is super sweet, and we’re still stuck here? Can we go?” Carrie cut in.

Flynn glared at her, as though that was supposed to make Carrie sorry for something she’d had every right to say. Why should she care about this ‘touching moment’ with a ghost who hadn’t even met Flynn yet?

“Fine,” Flynn said. “Willie, we have to go.”

“Finally,” Carrie muttered, marching back out to the street.

“Would you wait, like, two seconds?” Flynn shouted. Carrie smirked as she heard Flynn apologise to Willie before running to catch up with her.

“So where are we supposed to be going, oh queen of everything?” Flynn asked as she reached Carrie’s side. “We have nobody to help us. Nowhere to go. Unless your credit card is magic, I don’t think we have enough money for a hotel room.”

Carrie shook her head.

“Somebody helped us already,” she said.

“We are _not_ going to Willie,” Flynn said. “First of all, he’s a ghost, second, you do not want to get to know his boss –“

“Why do I care about your stupid ghost boyfriend?” Carrie said, ignoring the tiny “ew” Flynn let out in response. “Those guys. They’re Julie’s band, which means they’re suckers for a sob story. And they helped us once already.”

“No! No, we are _not_ doing this. We’ll change the timeline. Carrie, you of all people cannot hang out with those guys.” Flynn leapt in front of her, hands up to keep Carrie from taking another step towards the club they’d left.

“Why?” Carrie demanded. Flynn’s mouth flopped open and closed for a few seconds.

“Because!” Flynn said.

“Oh, really clever. You’re a time travel expert,” Carrie said. “What’s the worst that could happen? They decide they like me better than Julie?”

“Words cannot begin to describe how bad that could be,” Flynn muttered. Carrie smirked as she caught sight of a boy exiting out the side of the club, heading for a van that had just pulled up with a guitar case in each hand. Three more boys followed, one with a case of his own and the other two carrying pieces of a drum kit.

Perfect.

“Hey!” she called, ducking around Flynn and running for them before Flynn could stop her. She stopped in front of the first boy, right by the open van door, assuming the drivers were somebody’s parents and that she’d need them on her side as well. “I’m so sorry, oh my gosh, it’s just you’re the first people who’ve helped us, and we have nowhere to go. Could we get, like, a ride or something?”

“Uh…” The boy shook his chin-length black hair back from his face and looked into the van. Whatever he saw confirmed something because he looked back at her and Flynn, looking worried. “Where do you need to go?”

Carrie sniffed, letting her lip wobble. Flynn muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “I’m going to die” but didn’t interrupt. The one useful thing she’d done all day, really.

“We don’t know,” Carrie said.

His eyes widened, and he looked between Carrie and Flynn. “Your parents… Oh, man, I’m sorry. Hey, mom?” He ducked his head back into the van as the other boys came up.

“Dude, Bobby, what’s up?” said one of the boys holding the drums.

“They, uh, don’t have anywhere to stay,” the boy – Bobby – said as his mom joined them on the sidewalk. Carrie frowned. His mom seemed really familiar. So did Bobby, come to think of it. Carrie wondered when, exactly, they’d travelled to.

“Oh, no,” his mom said. “Did your parents kick you out, girls?”

Carrie sniffed again, obviously but not enough to be gross. She reached for Flynn, making it look like she was taking Flynn’s hand so she could pinch the other girl on the wrist. Carrie did _not_ want to have to carry this whole act herself. She could do it, but why should she have to? Not like it was a show that would advance her career or something.

“Yeah,” Flynn said quietly.

The band and Bobby’s mom exchanged glances. The blonde boy gripped the strap of his fanny pack with white knuckles.

“You can stay the night if you need, girls,” Bobby’s mom said gently. “There’s enough room, right, boys?”

“We can fit,” said the boy who’d said Carrie’s name came from a horror movie. “Nice to meet you!”

“I’m Carrie,” she said. “This leech is –“

“Victoria,” Flynn said quickly. Carrie stared at her. Flynn made a face at her like that was supposed to mean anything.

As they squeezed into the back, the boy who liked horror movies on Flynn’s other side, Carrie whispered in Flynn’s ear.

“Isn’t that Julie’s aunt?”

“Time travel,” Flynn said. “Bad enough they’ll remember me. I am not ruining my own life for when I get back.”

“Well, at least I got us a place to stay tonight,” Carrie said.

“I’m like ninety percent sure they think we’re lesbians who got kicked out for being gay,” Flynn said. Carrie stiffened, wondering how Flynn knew, before she realised that it hadn’t been a joke at Carrie’s expense. The looks the other occupants of the van were giving them, the way they’d immediately assumed the girls had been kicked out – Carrie faking a hand hold hadn’t helped, either.

“Great,” Carrie said. “Now we have to pretend we like each other.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I. Forgot. About the fake dating. This was planned and I did not tag. Surprise!  
> Sorry this is so late, technically in some time zones it's still Saturday. I'm in pretty much everybody's past, just so you know, so sometimes this is how it happens.  
> I might write Willie's pov someday but I want to keep going between Flynn and Carrie pov as much as I can, and we needed Carrie's opinions for a while. I think you can get most of the Willie from context, and it will be referred back to and explained in the future. Probably this is the only Willie content from Carrie's pov for a while.  
> Next up: Carrie goes home and Flynn is ready to do a murder.


	4. Never Look Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn is worried. Carrie makes a discovery.

Flynn refused to talk, no matter how much the guys tried to ask her and Carrie about themselves. The woman she assumed was Bobby’s mom – Carrie’s grandma, and wasn’t _that_ weird to think about given how distant Carrie’s grandparents had always been – kept sending her worried looks in the rearview mirror. Flynn kind of wanted to scream. Like, _yes I’m a lesbian, no my parents aren’t homophobic, and I’m definitely not dating this vapid soul-sucking piece of chewed bubblegum_. That would blow everything, though, and Carrie was right even if Flynn didn’t want to admit it: there were only so many people here and now who might be willing to help them.

She stared out the window as Reggie attempted to ask Carrie why they’d been in the club. Flynn was worried about Willie, and for once not about how he was doing. She’d been updated on _everything_ ghost-related since the first time Julie told her the truth, freak-outs aside, and she knew Willie hadn’t realised what Caleb really was for a long time. If he mentioned meeting Flynn, the girls would be even more screwed than they were now.

“We’re just _so_ grateful,” Carrie said, in that voice that could just barely pass for sincere. She touched Flynn’s hand, and Flynn jerked away.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“I’m selling it,” Carrie replied, rolling her eyes. The two girls noticed Reggie watching and gave him matching fake smiles until he leaned forward to talk to Alex. Carrie turned back to Flynn. “I’m sorry you don’t know how to act, but I actually _am_ a performer?”

“This is the nineties, you don’t _need_ to sell it,” Flynn snapped.

For just a second, Carrie looked genuinely taken aback. Her mouth opened in a tiny, glossy ‘o’ of surprise. Then she shook her head, and her usual death glare returned.

“Well, you never said what year we were in, I thought this was like, 2006 or something.”

“They had flip phones in the 2000s, Carrie!” Flynn hissed. “How do you – Just don’t touch me.”

She looked away from Carrie only to see Bobby and Alex both staring at her. They looked worried. Flynn hid her face behind her braids, wishing she and Carrie had the chance to put on some disguises or _something_. How could they possibly return home to a familiar timeline after all this?

“And we’re here,” Bobby’s mom announced as they pulled into a painfully familiar driveway. Carrie hit Flynn’s arm. Flynn hit Carrie’s arm.

“Why is this Julie’s house?” Carrie whispered frantically. Until now, Flynn hadn’t known a whisper could sound so much like a shriek.

“Because he lives here? I didn’t know!” Flynn said. She would have expected Carrie to know, honestly – her dad knew where the Molinas lived. Sure, he’d obviously tried to hide most of his past, but wouldn’t he have mentioned growing up in the same place as Carrie’s childhood best friend at _some_ point?

If Flynn tried to figure out his reasoning for everything, she was going to be stuck in her head for a long time. She got out of the van, trying to look like a nervous lesbian staying with people she’d only just met. Since that was ultimately true, it wasn’t hard.

“This is so weird,” Carrie said as she and Flynn followed everyone else into the house. “And are they all staying here?”

“We usually just stay over on late nights,” Reggie said, turning around. “Except Luke, he’s been living with Bobby lately.”

“Dude,” Alex said quietly.

“What? She asked!”

“Ok, which one is which?” Carrie said.

“Oh, man, we never introduced ourselves!” Luke exclaimed. “I’m Luke, I’m the one who’s staying here, too.”

“Bobby,” said Carrie’s dad, waving at her.

“So this is… your house,” Carrie said. She eyed him like she was suspicious of something. Oh, no, had she figured it out? Had she guessed this was her dad?

_No, Flynn, that’s a ridiculous conclusion to jump to. Carrie clearly doesn’t know what her dad looked like back then. It’s totally fine and not a disaster waiting to happen._

“Yeah, and that’s my mom,” Bobby said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at his mother. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Whatever,” Carrie said. Flynn elbowed her.

“She means thanks,” Flynn said.

“Not when people try to _force_ me to say it,” Carrie grumbled. Flynn plastered a smile on her face.

“You’re so funny,” she said through gritted teeth. Carrie flipped her hair back over her shoulder and gave Flynn a saccharine smile in return.

“I know,” she said.

“I’m Reggie! By the way,” Reggie cut in quickly. “And this is Alex.”

Alex waved a hand timidly.

“Carrie and Victoria, right?” Luke asked, pointing between them. Flynn reached out and grabbed his hand, moving it from Carrie to her as she said their names (well, Flynn’s fake name) in the right order.

“Carrie and Victoria,” she said. “Don’t get it twisted, I will _not_ be answering to Carrie.”

“You’d be lucky if she answered to Victoria,” Carrie muttered. She gave Flynn another tooth-achingly sweet smile when Flynn glared at her.

Luke laughed, clearly assuming this was some sort of cutesy banter.

“Cool,” he said. “Come on, Bobby’s parents have probably already set up the guest room. They’re cool like that.”

On their way down the hall, Carrie froze, grabbing Flynn’s arm.

“Fl – Victoria!” she said in a strangled voice. Flynn glanced nervously at the guys, who’d paused to look at them curiously.

“Give us a second?” she asked, trying to look like she was about to talk Carrie through some horrible trauma or something. Whatever was up, there was no way Flynn was letting the guys eavesdrop – and she knew they would try if it was anything less than dire. She knew what they were like.

“Yeah, sure,” Alex said, giving the others a stern look when they tried to protest and herding them up the stairs.

“What is wrong with you?” Flynn said. “You’re the one who was talking about selling it, and now you’re freaking out over…” She looked around. Carrie was staring at the wall, which was covered in family photos and more than a few shots of Bobby with the rest of Sunset Curve. There was even a shot of a very young Reggie riding a pony. “Pictures."

“That’s my dad with his parents,” Carrie said. “It’s like, the only picture of his childhood he has.” She pointed at a picture of a toddler on a swing with his smiling parents behind him.

“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Flynn said. So much for keeping it quiet and uncomplicated. “Bobby is your dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case the shenanigans weren't enough, have some more reveals! At least Carrie and Flynn are about to be on pretty much the same page, knowledge-wise.  
> Also, am I slipping in some thoughts about how much Bobby's parents might have known about what he did with Luke's music? Is that, perchance, the reason Carrie did not recognise her grandma? I don't know why I'm writing these like questions, we know the answer is yes.  
> Next up: Carrie and Flynn talk, almost like rational people. They spend their first night at Bobby's.


	5. Blow Their Minds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carrie processes. Flynn tries. Carrie's grandmother is the real MVP.

Carrie couldn’t tear her eyes away from the photo.

“No,” she said. “My dad’s name is Trevor. My grandparents – aren’t _like_ that! He was never in a band! He hates working with bands! They always let you down.”

“You ever think maybe he taught you that because he _was_ in a band?” Flynn asked.

Carrie glanced toward the stairs, where the band – her father’s band? – had disappeared to. She remembered her dad always saying that people would leave you, whether they meant to or not, and anybody who wanted to make it in the music world should know better than to depend on a band.

It did seem like something a person who’d lost their entire band in some kind of accident would say.

“He’s a solo artist,” Carrie protested half-heartedly. Flynn didn’t answer. Carrie snuck a look at the other girl, who looked almost sympathetic, and her gut curled inside her.

“I bet you love this,” she snapped defensively. Flynn looked surprised, and Carrie felt a quick moment of pleasure at gaining the upper hand.

“It’s kind of a terrible story, I don’t think anybody loves it,” Flynn said. She glanced to the stairs, then sighed. “Carrie, there’s more you should know.”

“Because you know so much more about my own family than I do?” Carrie snapped. Flynn still looked sympathetic. Carrie wanted to scratch the worried crease off Flynn’s brow.

“You’d find out the instant the guys started playing,” Flynn said. “Remember how you said they sounded like cheap knock-offs of your dad?”

“I recognised some of the songs,” Carrie said. “I thought they were covers. So he wrote them for the band?”

“No,” Flynn said. “Luke did.”

Carrie’s father was busy a lot, but he also taught her to make cookies and had late-night Star Trek marathons with her and sang badly to get her up in the mornings. He was rich and detached and divorced for a reason, but he took care of Carrie and put her first in a way nobody else did.

He wasn’t a _thief_.

“You’re lying,” Carrie said. “This is some kind of stupid, sick joke you’re playing on me. You had me going, with all the nineties stuff, and that guy you got to pretend to be my dad, he’s pretty good, but I’m not doing this.”

“Remember when Julie and I came over to your house?” Flynn asked. Carrie scoffed and tried to walk away, eager to get as far from stupid Julie’s stupid house as possible, but Flynn grabbed her hand.

“What about it?” Carrie snapped, trying to look as unbothered as she could while also conveying her anger.

“Your dad rushed out of there that day because the guys were trying to haunt him,” Flynn said. “They just found out he stole all their music and they wanted to get back at him.”

“So what, you and Julie were distracting me? Not really a point in your favour, Flynn,” Carrie hissed.

“No, Julie was trying to stop them,” Flynn said. She wrinkled her nose. “Ok, so I was distracting you, but for a good cause! Anyway, wouldn’t you haunt somebody if they said they wrote all your music and never even told your parents you could have made it big?”

“It doesn’t matter whether I would, because ghosts are not real, and neither is time travel, and that is _not_ my dad!” Carrie exclaimed. Flynn shushed her frantically, and Carrie was about to launch into a scathing tirade on everything from Flynn’s current behaviour to her clothes when the woman – who was _not_ Carrie’s grandmother – made herself known.

“Girls, are you all right?”

Carrie turned around slowly, examining the woman in spite of herself. She was much younger than Carrie’s grandmother, but she had the same dark eyes, and her haircut was the one Carrie’s dad assured her had been her grandmother’s preferred style since childhood. Her hair was dark, she had no wrinkles, but the rest of it – the rest of her did actually look like Carrie’s grandmother now that she was looking.

“Fine,” Flynn said. “We were just…”

“Your parents really hurt you, didn’t they?” Carrie’s grandmother asked gently. “Come on. Whatever they said or did, we’ll help you stay safe. There is _nothing_ that can justify casting out your child.”

“Nothing?” Carrie said. “Even if your kid’s friends all died and he went nuts and pretended he was a completely different person even to his own daughter?”

“Carrie!” Flynn hissed.

“Oh, Carrie –“ and she even _sounded_ like Carrie’s grandmother, if Carrie had really had any doubts left – “I don’t want you to feel pressured to talk to a stranger you just met, but if you need to talk, I’m here to listen. I don’t know what, exactly, you’ve dealt with, or what all that was about, but it’s clear you need to work through it with somebody.”

Carrie smiled awkwardly.

“That’s what I have… Victoria for.”

She really wished Flynn had picked a fake name that didn’t already _belong_ to somebody.

“A _friend_ is a friend,” her grandmother said, with a meaningful twist on the word ‘friend’ that told Carrie the lesbian idea was still going strong. “But it’s not fair to either of you if that’s all you have.”

Weird as it was, that was the kind of thing that Carrie had always heard from the grandmother she knew. She kept her mouth shut as she and Flynn followed her up the stairs.

“Boys, did you get the room ready?” Carrie’s grandmother called as she reached the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, we got it!” The guitarist who was always staring at Julie – Luke – bounded out of the room at the end of the hall. Carrie swallowed hard. That was Julie’s room.

“You don’t mind? I know I usually let you all stay in here…” She rolled her eyes. “Considering somebody’s room is never clean enough for one of you to sleep on the floor, let alone three.”

“We’ll stay in the garage!” Reggie said brightly, sounding way more enthusiastic than anybody should at that prospect.

“Yeah, it’s no big deal,” Alex said, shrugging with his hands in his pockets. For a drummer, he was weirdly quiet. Carrie wondered what _that_ was about.

“Thank you, guys,” Flynn said softly. She lifted an arm like she was going to hug Reggie, then hastily changed course and wrapped it around Carrie’s shoulders. Carrie stiffened as Flynn patted her shoulder awkwardly.

“We’re gonna just… turn in,” Flynn said. “Get some rest. It’s been a really long day.”

Carrie’s grandmother eyed them as the boys stampeded back down the stairs.

“I should warn you,” she said finally. “These are thin walls.”

Flynn hastily stepped away from Carrie. Carrie was sure she was blushing the same bright shade of pink as her shirt.

“We don’t do that,” Flynn said. “ _Way_ too young.”

“I’m glad you know that,” Carrie’s grandmother said. “Not everybody your age does. Let us know if you need anything, I’m sure you saw the kitchen as you came in if you need a drink of water, and Bobby’s in the room right next door if you have any questions. You’ve had dinner, I hope? I can whip something up for you, and by that I do mean have my husband cook something. I burn water.”

Carrie grinned. That was what her grandmother always said.

“We’re good,” Flynn said. “Thanks.”

“We haven’t actually had dinner,” Carrie pointed out as Flynn closed the door. Flynn glared at her. Carrie felt a twinge of relief. Finally, they were back on familiar territory.

“Did you really want to spend any more time with her than you have to? Next thing you know we’re going full Back to the Future and you’ve never been born. Much as I would enjoy that, I try to be a good person.”

“Whatever, I was making sure you remembered,” Carrie said. She stared around the room. It was so weird devoid of Julie’s usual butterflies-and-glitter aesthetic. The walls were just plain, undecorated white, and the bed was covered in a dark blue bedspread with no pattern. To Carrie’s relief, there was a sleeping bag on the floor, with a pile of blankets and pillows tossed haphazardly next to it.

“In case you get cold, I guess,” Flynn said.

“Uh, this is technically my family’s house?” Carrie pointed out. “I’ll be taking the bed.” She pushed Flynn aside and collapsed onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Flynn muttered something that would have had Carrie’s dad scolding her for language, and then Carrie heard the rustling of blankets.

“Are you ok?” Flynn asked quietly.

 _No_ , Carrie thought. _No, I’m not, because apparently everything in my life was built on a lie. Apparently I can’t get out of Julie’s shadow no matter how hard I try because my dad screwed that up for me before I was even born. No, I’m not ok, because you picked Julie over me and now I’m stuck depending on you when I know that I can’t._

“We’re not friends, Flynn,” Carrie said. “You miss Julie. I get it. I’m not your replacement. You want to gloss over your own problems by dealing with somebody else’s, you’ll have to pry into somebody else’s life to do it.”

“Right,” Flynn said flatly. “Screw me for trying to check up on you. My bad for forgetting you have no heart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guess what. Carrie's acknowledging her own stuff to herself! Not out loud, but, still. Also, Flynn is working very hard to keep things ok, and I'm feeling proud of her.  
> I think the thing about Carrie's grandparents will continue to be clarified as we move through this fic but I do want to make it clear off the bat, they are in Carrie's life, but things are tense with her dad, for reasons that probably are obvious by now. The fact that Trevor's secret has been kept is basically them keeping him in their life, for better or worse - is it the right call? No, but he put them in the position to have to make that choice and that is where the tension comes from. I'm very interested in good parents in situations where there's no easy/good answer. It's not just kids I traumatise in fiction, I'll hurt anybody!  
> (I'm so sorry)  
> Next up: Willie can't stay away from such an interesting turn of events. Flynn and Carrie can't justify passing up the only magical contact they have in 1994. (Did I say what year this was? It's late '94. If my notes say otherwise earlier I apologise, this is the canon truth from now on.)


	6. Some Things They Never Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn receives a visitor. Carrie just wants her beauty sleep.

Flynn slept poorly. She was used to sleeping on the floor, this floor even, and Carrie’s snores were weirdly soothing even after so long without a sleepover together. Flynn considered being mad about that, but she was too exhausted to put any effort in. She stared at the ceiling as the light shifted, not sure how much of the night she’d slept through but knowing it wasn’t anywhere near as long as she’d been lying there.

Flynn knew the guys wouldn’t know her. She’d talked to them while they were onstage. But the way they’d been in the car, the _introductions_ , how far away Reggie kept standing from her when he was a total snuggle-seeker with any friend who came close enough – that was hard.

“Hey,” came a voice as if summoned by her thoughts. Flynn bolted upright, staring at the ghost who’d just poofed in.

“Willie! What are you doing here? Go away!” Flynn hissed. He held up his hands with an easy grin.

“Easy, I just wanted to know a little more about the mysterious lifer who knows me but won’t say why. You know, casual curiosity. You’re right, though, none of my business that you can see me, or touch me, or know my name…”

“Ok, I get it,” Flynn hissed. Carrie snorted in her sleep, and Flynn cringed. Thankfully, Carrie didn’t wake up.

“I’d tell you to stay quiet, but you’d probably be smug at me about that, too, wouldn’t you?” Flynn whispered as she got up to lean against the windowsill. Willie laughed.

“Yeah, probably,” he said. “It’s Flynn, right?”

Flynn had never before had to know what Willie looked like when he was just meeting somebody, which was a weird way to think about it. Still. She’d met him back when she couldn’t see any ghosts. Seeing the way he was eyeing her now, equal parts eager and wary… Well, different ghost boy, same problem as before. Flynn wished Julie were here, just for one person she could cling to.

“Yeah, it’s Flynn,” she said finally. “Look, I really can’t tell you anything.”

“Ok,” Willie said. “What is it with you and Caleb?”

Flynn hated how calm he looked. It was probably a bad friend move to hate the sight of her friend feeling happy, but also she knew what Caleb was like, so was it that bad? No. Caleb was terrible and deserved everything Julie gave him. Would give him. Whatever.

“I just don’t like the idea of getting ghost mobbed up,” Flynn said.

“It’s not a mob!” Willie exclaimed, laughing.

“Right,” Flynn said. “Well, you know, lifer who can see ghosts, Caleb’s a very powerful ghost, I figure maybe I should steer clear of him. Not that I don’t trust ghosts in general? I just. Don’t think we’d get along.”

“Ok,” Willie said, though Flynn could _feel_ the disbelief coming off him. “I asked around about magic.”

“Not to Caleb?” Flynn blurted, horrified.

“No, I… prefer not to poke at his ego,” Willie said. “Just some other ghosts at the club, people who get around. Nobody had anything, though.”

“Ugh,” Flynn said. “That figures. Thanks, though.”

“Are you… gonna tell me why?”

“Have I explained anything to you so far? Willie, I’m trying very hard to keep my mouth shut, please don’t push me.” Flynn wrinkled her nose when she realised she’d basically admitted she would tell Willie everything if pushed.

“Tell you what,” Willie said. “You tell me something about you, maybe how you knew my name or how you can touch me, and I figure out a way to get Caleb to help you without giving away your secrets.”

Flynn swallowed. It was the best deal she was going to get.

“My friend… is magic,” Flynn said.

“The one snoring the national anthem, or a different one?”

Flynn snorted.

“Different one,” she said. “That girl is… a lot of things, but not my friend.”

Willie frowned, but didn’t investigate the Flynn-and-Carrie dynamic any further. Flynn had always appreciated how chill he was.

“So your friend is magic,” he said.

“She has some ghost friends, and we had… an accident. So now I see some ghosts. Not all of them, but. You know. Clearly some.”

“Why me?” Willie asked.

“Good question!” Flynn said brightly.

“Ugh, what?” Carrie muttered blearily. Flynn winced as Carrie slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her usually flawlessly curled hair was sleep-mussed, with flyaways poking out at every angle. The sharpness of her gaze was lost behind sleep crust and confusion. Without her outer shell of makeup, she looked like a different person – or at least a different Carrie.

“You couldn’t let me _sleep_?” Carrie hissed, destroying the illusion of fun Carrie. Flynn rolled her eyes.

“I’d planned to,” she said. “Willie here had other plans.”

“Oh, good, your imaginary friend has returned. Can he help us get home? Because if not, he can leave. Now.” Carrie rolled over so her back was to Flynn.

“I’m asking him for help,” Flynn said. “You’re welcome.”

Carrie sat up.

“He can do whatever the magic thing was that got us here?” she asked.

“No,” Flynn said. “His boss can.”

“The boss you told him not to tell? That boss?” Carrie looked unimpressed. For once, Flynn couldn’t blame her. She kept hoping she was done turning to evil ghosts for help, especially with the whole Julie-is-magic now thing, but here she was. “What’s the deal with him, anyway?”

“He’s territorial,” Flynn said. “I’ll tell you later.”

“Oh, great. More revelations,” Carrie said with an exasperated little jazz hand as she started to work her other hand through her hair. “So when do we go see him?”

“We’re not seeing him!” Flynn said.

“Are you planning on telling your imaginary friend everything? Because I don’t remember you mentioning many details before.”

Flynn couldn’t argue with that. Also, it was incredibly rude of Carrie to have just woken up and already be on her case. And, for a third note, since when did Carrie pay that much attention to the things Flynn said? She was the _worst_.

“Fine,” Flynn said. “Carrie’s probably right. We need to be there, to make sure we get the right thing from him.” It wasn’t like Willie could throw some magic in a takeout box.

“Ok,” Willie said. “Deal still stands, though.”

“Right,” Flynn said. She glanced at Carrie. “He, uh… wants me to give him an explanation. One out of like, fifty I owe him, really.”

“What do you want from me, permission?”

“I wanted to make sure you’d shut up while I talked,” Flynn said. “I don’t care if you care what I do, I just don’t want to wake up _your_ family.”

“I thought you said you were trying to get home,” Willie said.

“Again, it’s really complicated,” Flynn said. “Look, just… I said my friend is magic, and we had an accident, and now I see some ghosts. Is that not enough?”

“What other ghosts?” Willie asked.

“I’ve seen Caleb around,” Flynn said slowly. “That’s how I know him. My friend has some ghost friends, and I can see some of them.”

She had no idea how to broach the topic of Ava, so she wasn’t even going to try.

“Wow, you’re a great storyteller,” Carrie muttered.

“Shut up, Carrie, I didn’t _ask_ you,” Flynn said. She stared at Willie, hoping desperately this was good enough. She didn’t want to explain everything to him, especially all the things he’d been there for.

“Ok,” he said finally. “I get that whatever you think will happen is bad. So I won’t push. You know…” He rubbed his hands together nervously, then let them fall to his side as he grinned. “Caleb’s pretty neat, but he’s not exactly patient. You gotta be careful, dealing with him.”

“Believe me,” Flynn said. “I know. You really want to help us?”

“I really want to know what’s going on,” Willie said. “I’m kind of hoping that someday you were talking about might come a little sooner if I help you out now.”

“Well, it won’t hurt,” Flynn said, though she was hoping the exact opposite. “Thank you.”

On impulse, or maybe habit, she hugged him. He froze, and for a lot longer than he usually did. Flynn pulled away guiltily, wondering who he had to hug him right now. Probably nobody, given the signs.

“Sorry,” Flynn said. “Just… You have no idea how much this means.”

“That would have been heartwarming if you didn’t look absolutely insane,” Carrie said. “Can we go back to sleep now?”

“Fine, whatever,” Flynn said, throwing up her hands as Willie laughed.

“I’ll talk to Caleb,” he said. “As… soon as I can figure out what to say. It’s really weird that you’re lifers, you know?”

“Well, you can always tell him we’re thinking about getting into the soul market,” Flynn remarked off-handedly.

“The what?” Carrie shrieked. Willie had a split second to wear an expression not unlike a kid getting yelled at by his parents before he poofed out. There was a thud from the room next door.

A few seconds later, Bobby wrenched open the door, looking panicked.

“Are you ok?” he asked, his hair sticking up in spikes that Flynn would not have thought possible from such long hair.

“Fine,” Flynn said, glaring at Carrie. At least the other girl had the decency to look sheepish.

“Well… uh…” Bobby looked between them, clearly wanting to press but having no idea how. Flynn had seen that look on his adult face a lot back in the day when she, Carrie, or Julie had been at his house and upset about something. “Do you… want breakfast?”

“I’m starving, so yes,” Carrie said before Flynn could respond.

“What? Carrie!”

“It’s breakfast, Victoria, not a war crime,” Carrie said. “We’ll get ready and be down in a minute.”

When Bobby closed the door, Flynn rubbed her face, wishing she’d managed to get more than a few minutes of sleep at a time.

“Carrie,” she said as evenly as she could. “Did I, at some point, tell you that whatever we do here will change the timeline? Because it will. If you want to erase your own existence, then great, but this is the last meal we are having at this house if I can help it.”

Carrie was silent for so long Flynn actually found herself getting worried.

“You could have told me!” Carrie said in a strangled, squeaky voice.

“I’m trying to keep it to one revelation at a time!”

“That’s not really going to work right now!”

The two girls took the same moment to breathe, looking away from each other.

“I’m sorry,” Flynn said. “Somehow I thought you’d figure that out.”

“It makes sense,” Carrie grumbled. “Anything else I should know?”

“Caleb,” Flynn said. “But you signed us up for breakfast, so that has to wait. Ok?”

Carrie visibly swallowed when she met Flynn’s eyes, but she didn’t seem about to bite Flynn’s face off.

“Ok,” she said. “After breakfast, then. It’s a deal.”

“I really am starting to hate that word,” Flynn muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were multiple moments I wrote Julie when I meant either Carrie or Flynn. I miss her.  
> Also, I fully forgot ghosts could teleport for a minute and nearly had Willie arrive walking through the window, which... flight/hovering might be the one ghosty thing we don't know that ghosts can do in this canon. Anyway. Poofing happened, it's all good.  
> Next time: breakfast! lunch! and dinner! This was not on purpose but all three meals will be happening next time so it's the food chapter I guess???


	7. I Can't Miss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carrie learns a lot, and Flynn tries not to bond with the guys.

Bobby – Carrie’s dad – _Bobby_ was standing at the stove by the time Carrie and Flynn reached the kitchen, poking at a pan full of eggs.

“You’re sure you’re ok?” he asked when he saw them. Carrie smiled nervously at him. What if she said too much? What if she’d already said too much?

“We’re fine.” Flynn pulled Carrie over to the counter, keeping her eyes on Bobby. Carrie tried not to scoff at her. Was she afraid he would turn around and demand to know all their secrets?

“What’s all this?”

Carrie swallowed, taking a step back until she bumped into the counter. Her much younger grandfather had stepped into the kitchen. He saw her staring at him and smiled at her, slouching a little like he wanted to make himself look smaller.

“Robert,” he introduced himself. Carrie opened her mouth, and then closed it. She knew her own grandfather’s name.

She hadn’t realised he was a Robert, Sr. She didn’t know how she felt about that.

“I’m Victoria,” Flynn said after Carrie didn’t answer. “This is Carrie.”

“My wife told me you needed a place to stay,” he said. “We’re happy to help you find somewhere more permanent, too. You look like you’re still in school?”

“It’s… not a problem right now,” Flynn said with a glance at Carrie.

“Ok,” he said, clearly without believing a word Flynn said. “What are you doing, Bob?”

“Breakfast,” Bobby said.

“Sure you are,” Carrie’s grandfather said. “If you like your eggs runny and bland.” He nudged Bobby away from the stove with a playful smile and set to work.

“Not to mention this isn’t nearly enough eggs for everyone,” he added as Bobby hopped up on the counter between his dad and the girls. Carrie remembered her dad lifting her up to the counter when she was five, showing her how to make scrambled eggs.

She really hated her memory, sometimes.

“Oh, cool, you’re all awake!” It was Reggie, wearing the same outfit as he’d worn last night but with a different coloured flannel. Carrie curled her lip, hoping that he was one of the guys who had multiple pairs of the same pants, and not one of the ones who wore the same pants multiple days in a row.

Had he _ever_ worn a different outfit in one of his shows with Julie, apart from that suit at the Orpheum? Was that some kind of ghost thing?

Carrie _never_ wanted to be a ghost if it meant she couldn’t change her outfit. That sounded like hell on earth.

“Yeah, apparently Carrie’s an early riser just like you, so I started breakfast.” Bobby jumped off the counter, wrapping an arm around Reggie when he came closer. It reminded Carrie of the way Flynn and Julie always were in the hallways at school.

“Luke’s still asleep, but I think Alex is trying to get him up,” Reggie said. “Should I go tell them we’re eating breakfast soon?”

“Nah, I got it, thanks man,” Bobby said, patting Reggie on the shoulder and running out. Reggie hopped up to sit in the exact same spot Bobby had been in.

“Are you all just like this?” Carrie asked. Flynn smacked Carrie’s arm. Reggie stared at her like he didn’t understand the question.

“Awesome musicians? Fun to be around?” He frowned, then brightened and clapped his hands together. “Potential new friends!”

“Whatever,” Carrie said, ignoring Flynn as she hit her again.

“Sorry about her, she’s terrible in the mornings,” Flynn said. “And afternoons. And always.”

“Thanks, sweetie,” Carrie said pointedly. Flynn opened her mouth, moved her lips through the shapes of several vowels, then closed it.

“Yeah. Yep,” she said. Carrie snorted. Trust Flynn to not know how to respond to people even faking niceness.

The other guys from the band stumbled in at varying levels of bleary-eyed. Carrie fully expected Luke to fall over and start snoring.

“Morning,” Alex said to Carrie and Flynn quietly, avoiding their eyes. He reached out to Luke to help him stay upright in his chair, then pulled his hand back as though he’d been burned as soon as Luke was upright. Carrie rolled her eyes. Guys were so weird. She’d thought they were all super touchy, from the way her dad and Reggie had been just now, but maybe that was a Reggie thing.

“Hey, Alex, right?” Flynn asked. She sat down next to him. Carrie suppressed a groan when she realised she’d need to sit next to Flynn to keep from blowing holes in their story.

“Yeah,” Alex said. “Uh, sorry about Luke. He’s… he only really gets out of bed for music.”

“What?” Luke lifted his head. Flynn and Alex laughed. Carrie sighed and propped her chin in her hands, watching them. This was going to be a long day. And wasn’t Flynn the one worried about changing the timeline?

“Food!” Bobby and Reggie entered with arms full of plates and food, including a stack of toast that made Carrie wonder exactly how many loaves of bread her dad’s family had on hand.

“What’s with the bread?” she asked.

“Reggie eats a lot of bread, you just start to expect it,” Bobby said as Reggie passed out plates. As soon as he finished he sat down and started to butter four slices of toast.

“Ok, then,” Carrie said, tearing her eyes away from the horror show she was sure would ensue. She didn’t hang out with teenage boys a lot, but even Nick had his mildly horrifying food habits.

“Here you go,” Carrie’s grandfather said, setting the large bowl of eggs down in the centre. “Anything to drink, kids?”

“Coffee?” Bobby said hopefully.

“Keep dreaming. Milk it is.”

Carrie snorted as she reached for the eggs.

“Carrie’s lactose intolerant,” Flynn said.

“It’s fine,” Carrie murmured.

“Not when you spend the entire day in the bathroom,” Flynn replied. “I’ve seen what happens when you eat ice cream without those pill things.”

“It’s fine,” Carrie said. “Fl – Victoria, I’m not lactose intolerant anymore.”

Flynn stiffened. She glanced around at the others, then smiled at Carrie awkwardly.

“I forgot,” she said. “Right. Because you…”

“I did that thing,” Carrie said. “Where you eat a little bit of dairy, and a little more…”

“Right,” Flynn said. “Yeah, that’s… I can’t believe I forgot that!”

Carrie was intensely aware of everyone’s eyes on the two of them. Were they wondering how Flynn could have missed that? Questioning everything Carrie and Flynn had told them?

“Well, you’re always looking out for me,” Carrie said as sincerely as she could. Flynn’s face twitched like she was holding back a laugh.

“Yep,” she said, covering her mouth. Carrie could just barely see the smile under her hand. “That’s true.”

Carrie snickered as she took a bite of her eggs.

The rest of breakfast passed largely without incident. Luke woke slowly from his stupor, and by the end of the meal (when Carrie’s grandmother finally joined them) he was engaged with his bandmates in boisterous teasing. Carrie noticed he happily touched anybody around him except Alex. She wondered what that was about.

Flynn kept jumping into the conversation, then clamming up as soon as Carrie nudged her with her foot. Clearly the whole “these are not your friends” thing wasn’t quite clicking for the other girl.

“And then guess what this genius did?” Luke said at one point when the food was almost gone. Carrie hadn’t been paying enough attention to know what Reggie had done before this point in the story, and she honestly did not care.

“He sat down next to the rabbit,” Alex said, grinning. “In the bathtub. And he asked it how its day was going.”

“At least it wasn’t a raccoon,” Flynn said with a laugh.

“How’d you know about the raccoon story?” Reggie asked.

Flynn’s mouth opened slowly.

“Wow, you guys have a raccoon story, too?” Carrie said quickly. “That’s so weird!”

“Yeah, super weird,” Flynn said. She kicked Carrie under the table. Carrie kicked back.

“That is weird,” Reggie said. Alex seemed ready to ask something, but Reggie kept talking. “What are you going to do today?”

Carrie and Flynn looked at each other.

“We… aren’t sure. Is it all right if we just hole up in the room so we can plan?” Flynn said.

Carrie’s grandparents exchanged glances.

“If you girls need anything, let us know,” her grandmother said.

Carrie smiled at them weakly.

“Thanks,” she said. She grabbed Flynn’s hand and pulled her up. “We’ll just… put our plates away.”

“We’ll take care of it, don’t worry about it,” her grandfather said. “You girls don’t know where everything is, it’s all right.”

“Thanks,” Flynn said. It was her turn to tow Carrie away.

It was almost noon by the time Flynn made it through the full explanation of everything she, Julie, and their ghost friends had been through in the past few months. Carrie sat on the bed, hugging a pillow to her stomach, trying to think of what to say.

“So they’re going to die soon?” she asked. “Because of hot dogs.”

“That’s where you’re starting?” Flynn asked.

“It’s the start of everything else! Look, I… I don’t know what you want me to say, ok? How do I respond to all of _that_?”

There was a knock on the door. Carrie hastily put the pillow behind her back as Flynn opened the door. It was Luke.

“Hey, we just got back from dropping the others off, do you want some food or something?”

“Uh…” Flynn said. “No?”

Her stomach grumbled. Carrie snorted.

“Maybe like. A sandwich,” Flynn said. “But we’re kinda busy.”

“I can ask if they’ll bring food up,” Luke offered. “I get like that sometimes. Except… with music. Not, you know, getting kicked out of my house.”

“Funny, I thought I heard you were staying here, too,” Carrie snapped.

“Carrie!”

Luke took a step back, looking hurt.

“I’ll go ask about lunch, then,” he said. “Um, good luck figuring it out.”

Flynn slammed the door and whirled on Carrie.

“What was that?” she snapped. “What is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how much of a kick in the gut that was for him?”

“No, because I don’t know him.” Carrie rolled her eyes. “And you, always telling me not to talk to them, like it’s my fault we’re here, but you’re the one who keeps trying to make inside jokes with them. They’re not our friends, Flynn, either of us. They’re just some guys we have to keep at arms’ length.”

Flynn glared at her, but instead of snapping back the way Carrie expected, her eyes started to fill with tears. Carrie stared at her, unsure what her response should be.

“I know that,” Flynn said finally. “I am _trying_. But I am also trying not to be a jerk to people who have only helped us. Your family, I could point out.”

“ _He’s_ not,” Carrie said.

“Honestly, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Luke clearly would’ve been basically your uncle if they’d all stayed alive.”

“Is that what happened? In the other timeline?”

Flynn looked away.

“That’s different,” she said.

“Well, either way it doesn’t matter, because none of those things happened to _me,”_ Carrie said. “And right now all I care about is if one of your scary evil ghosts can get us home, because I’d like to make sure something happens to me, ever again. I don’t feel like erasing my existence one bowl of scrambled eggs at a time.”

There was another knock. This time it was Bobby with a plate full of hastily slapped-together sandwiches.

“Here,” he said, without any of the interest he and the others had shown in the two girls before. When he turned to leave, Flynn called out after him.

“Tell Luke we’re sorry,” she said. “Carrie’s just… having a hard time.”

“A lot of people are,” Bobby said. Carrie flinched. “I get it.”

When the door closed, Flynn stared at Carrie.

“I cannot believe that kid grows up to raise _you_ ,” she said. “Or, really, becomes who he does at all.”

“I don’t really want to talk about this, Flynn!” Carrie shouted.

“You don’t really want to talk about anything,” Flynn said. “Which is why you’re going to make it really hard to get home.”

“You want to talk? Fine. What do we need to get home?” Carrie glared at her. “It was love. If that Ava ghost person could use the – the Instrument, then it doesn’t take a lot of love. But it stopped working?”

“Julie made it work, and we thought it was because she had more love. But… I think it’s because she’s magic, too. It’s the only reason I can think of for Caleb and Ava working together.”

“Caleb brings the magic,” Carrie said slowly. “And that’s why we might have to ask him for help.”

“Yeah, maybe Ava could help, too, but she couldn’t make it work without us before,” Flynn said.

“And that thing, with the memories, do you think that will happen to us when we get home?”

Flynn shrugged, clearly trying for nonchalant but landing somewhere in uneasy.

“We fixed it before,” she said. “We can do it again.”

“Right,” Carrie said, not believing her for a second. “You really think we can trust Willie not to tell Caleb anything?”

“I trust Willie more than I trust you,” Flynn said. “He’s the only one who’s never let me down.”

“Well, by that logic, I guess I should trust him over you, too,” Carrie said.

“Great,” Flynn said, picking up a sandwich. “At least we both can count on Willie.” She dropped the plate of sandwiches into Carrie’s lap, almost sending the topmost sandwich bouncing onto her shirt, and took a bite.

“Eat up,” she said through a mouthful of bread and lunchmeat. “You hurt one of my friends to get that sandwich, it better be worth it.”

They finally surfaced in the evening when Carrie could no longer deny her need to drink water. Carrie’s grandfather was cooking when the girls crept into the kitchen.

“Oh, just in time for dinner!” he said cheerfully. “You girls feeling ok?”

“We have a few people we can ask for help,” Flynn said. “We’re working on it.”

“Look, I know we’re a bunch of strangers, and you girls have clearly been hurt by people you trusted.” He turned the burner down slightly and faced them, looking serious.

 _Yeah, the girl next to me. And, apparently, your own son._ Carrie bit her lip. This was not the time for self-sabotage.

“We don’t expect you to open up to us, or trust us, or suddenly consider us family,” her grandfather continued. “But you deserve to have people who will help you, whenever you need, and as long as you have nobody else we are happy to be those people. Even longer, as needed. So you don’t have to brush off your fears, or handle everything alone. You’re just kids. It’s ok to need help.”

“We’re getting it, I swear,” Carrie said, throat tightening. She missed _her_ grandparents, rare as her visits were. No matter how weird things got with her dad, she’d never doubted her grandparents would be there in a heartbeat if she was upset. After her mom left, they’d dropped everything to look after Carrie – and her dad, too, in a weird way. Her grandfather had given her a speech a lot like this one, actually.

“Good,” he said solemnly. “How do you girls feel about pasta?”

“It’s pretty much all my friend’s dad can cook, so we’re used to it,” Flynn said. Carrie laughed in surprise. She’d forgotten that about Ray.

“Hey, Dad, is dinner almost – oh, hey.” Bobby and Luke came into the kitchen, halting when they saw Carrie and Flynn. Flynn stepped on Carrie’s foot. Carrie elbowed her and turned towards the boys with a smile that was about fifty percent sincere.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said to Luke. “It wasn’t fair.”

He eyed her warily. Carrie glanced at Flynn, hoping for a clue on how to get back in his good graces. Flynn just watched her, eyebrows raised.

Then Luke laughed softly.

“Thanks,” he said. “It’s ok. I get it. A bad day will do that to you, and getting kicked out… worse day than most.”

“Yeah,” Carrie said. “Yeah, it’s… never good to find out your parents aren’t who you thought.” It was bad when it was her mom, and it was bad when her dad was in front of her, different name and all, with a whole awful future ahead of him that her life depended on.

Flynn grabbed her hand, and Carrie almost jumped in surprise. When she looked at Flynn, the other girl shrugged sheepishly.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

Carrie bit back the angry response on the tip of her tongue. Flynn didn’t _know her_ , but that wasn’t the point and Carrie knew it.

“Thanks,” she said. Flynn looked surprised.

"No problem," she said, knocking her shoulder into Carrie's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That growth! That self-awareness! I know I'm the one who wrote this but god I'm proud of these dorks. Can you believe they're holding hands. Oh my god.  
> Also, Wilson family and young Carrie feels everywhere in this. Little bits of Carrie childhood with her dad and grandparents! Flynn knowing things about Carrie! Me frantically researching lactose intolerance to make sure that becoming not lactose intolerant was an actual thing and I wasn't misremembering something that my childhood best friend did!  
> (it is an actual thing, I don't know if it's advised but people do actually do that. Interestingly, around the same time this friend stopped being lactose intolerant was when lactose intolerance developed in a different friend and this is relevant to nothing but does remind us that time is a weird, weird thing.)  
> Next time: Flynn bonds with Alex. The word "lesbian" is used often.


	8. Ain't My Fault It Won't Stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carrie and Flynn continue to bond. Alex gets some comfort too.

The next morning, Flynn awoke when Carrie threw a pillow at her.

“What do you want?” Flynn said irritably, tossing the pillow back at her. Like the awful jerk she was, Carrie caught it easily, fluffed it once, then set it back behind her and leaned against the headboard.

“What do we do while we wait for Willie?” she asked.

Flynn groaned.

“Please don’t ask me hard questions first thing in the morning,” she said.

“We could see if we could find any other ghosts?” Carrie offered. “Maybe somebody who isn’t in the ghost mafia?”

“You know I can’t see _every_ ghost, right? I can’t even see Alex and Luke,” Flynn said.

“But you talk about them all the time,” Carrie said.

“I mean, we still interact,” Flynn said. “And Reggie and Willie and Julie can tell me what they say.”

“Great,” Carrie said. “Will you even be able to _talk_ to Caleb?”

“We did that time travel thing together,” Flynn said. “I should be able to see him.”

“Should?” Carrie said.

Flynn swallowed. There was a moment when the Instrument disappeared that she’d been afraid her link to Caleb and Ava had worn off, that they could hide themselves from her and Julie again. Knowing it had gone to Carrie made her feel better, but now the fear was planted in her mind and she couldn’t shake it. And if she couldn’t see Caleb, after she’d told Willie she could…

“It’ll be fine,” Flynn said. “We’ll get home. I promise.”

“I’m not Julie,” Carrie said. “You don’t have to protect me.”

“Well, maybe I’m not, and I’m telling the truth!” Flynn snapped, all the more stung because Carrie was right. God, she was going to spend _so much_ time screaming with Nick when they made it home. Assuming Nick still knew her.

Flynn needed to change the subject before the bad thoughts started to spiral. She searched her mind frantically for something, only to be pleasantly surprised when there was a knock on the door.

“Hey, just letting you know the other guys are back today,” Bobby said when Flynn opened the door. “We’re out in the garage, probably won’t bother you, but just in case we get a snack at the same time or something.”

“The garage?” Carrie asked, coming up behind Flynn.

“It’s where the band practices,” Bobby said. “You know, like… a garage band?”

“Funny,” Flynn said. She glanced at Carrie. The other girl looked thoughtful, and Flynn was pretty sure she knew why. Carrie knew Sunset Curve’s music was stolen by her dad, but she’d never heard the songs as they were meant to be played. It all probably seemed abstract, still. “Would it be ok if we watched?”

“What?” Carrie said, looking horrified.

“Uh, you really want to? Rehearsals are… kind of boring if you’re not in them.”

“Oh, please, we’re musicians, we know how that goes,” Flynn said. “Look, if anybody says no, it’s totally fine. Just… your band reminds us of some people we know. And we can’t really do anything until our friend gets back to us, so we’ve got to do _something_ all day.”

“I’ll see how they feel about it,” Bobby said. “Maybe, like, once we’ve worked on things a little?”

“Yeah, totally!” Flynn said hastily. “We just… really like music.”

Bobby laughed.

“Yeah, ok. Not unusual around here, actually.”

As soon as he was gone, Carrie grabbed Flynn’s arm.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“You want to know, don’t you? What their music is really like?”

“I – You – Stop acting like you know me!” Carrie said, which might as well have been a confirmation. Flynn rolled her eyes.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “And considering the only times I’ve seen the band play before were when we came here and the night they died, I’m welcome, too.”

“If you’re serious about the timeline changing, isn’t this a bad plan?”

“We’ve done our damage,” Flynn said. “And it’s not like your parents met until after the others died. Just don’t give anybody any meaningful advice or long-lasting trauma, and we’re ok.”

Carrie actually snorted at that.

“Come on, let’s go find something to eat,” she said, rolling her eyes as if to cover for her moment of humanity.

Luke found them on the porch railing after they’d eaten, trading details they noticed that had changed in the two-and-a-half decades between now and their home time. The landscaping was surprisingly similar overall, though there were far fewer flowers.

“Hey, I heard you were interested in rehearsal?” he said.

“Carrie likes rock music,” Flynn said. Carrie stepped on her foot. Flynn only grinned wider.

“We could show you some of the stuff we’ve been doing,” Luke offered. He had that sparkle in his eyes Flynn knew well, the one she was almost sure was his “music-eyes” face. “Not a whole rehearsal, but if you’re really interested…”

“That would be cool,” Flynn said. “Thank you.”

He glanced at Carrie, obviously still a little wary, but when she didn’t say anything nasty, he relaxed.

“Hey, boys!” he hollered as he ran down the stairs toward the studio. “We got an audience!”

Flynn shook her head fondly as she followed. Carrie drifted behind her, oddly silent.

They played through a handful of songs, some Flynn recognised from Julie’s Sunset Curve demo and some she knew as Trevor Wilson songs, and with every one of the latter, Carrie’s face got a little blanker. By the time Luke started to explain to them the origins of the song “My Name Is Luke,” Flynn was willing to admit this might have been a bad plan.

Just when they were about to play the opening chords, Carrie stood up abruptly.

“I have to go,” she said. “To the bathroom.”

“Carrie…” Flynn said, standing up as well.

“It’s fine,” Carrie interrupted. “I know you want – I’m fine. I don’t need help to go to the _bathroom_.” She stormed out, though Flynn was pretty sure that was to cover for her desire to literally run. Flynn closed her eyes, wishing she hadn’t had this idea. It would have helped Julie, she knew. But Carrie wasn’t Julie, and she’d been stupid to forget that for even a second.

“It’s… probably a good time to get lunch,” Luke said with a glance at the others.

“I’m gonna stay out here if it’s ok,” Flynn said, collapsing onto the couch. She’d really messed that up.

“Yeah, sure,” Bobby said.

“Shouldn’t somebody check on her? She looks like she needs a hug,” Alex said. Flynn laughed.

“Trust me, you try to hug her right now and she will rip you to shreds verbally. She’ll be ok.”

Luke reached out to Alex, who stepped away hastily. Flynn lifted her head, frowning. She’d barely seen the two of them touch since arriving in the past.

“I’ll stay out here with Victoria, just bring me some chips or something,” Alex said, jerking a thumb at Flynn.

“Ok,” Luke said. “See you in a bit.”

When they were gone, Alex sat on the other side of the couch with a groan.

“This is just after you broke up, isn’t it?” Flynn realised aloud. Alex stared at her with equal parts surprise and horror, and she realised that was possibly the single weirdest thing she’d said by his standards.

“I just mean you have that vibe. Feeling!” she covered hastily. Did people use the word vibe in the 90’s? She did not know the history of slang. That was more the kind of thing Reggie would randomly blurt out while trying to change an awkward subject. Also, she wasn’t sure her covering had actually covered at _all_.

Flynn was spiralling again. At least this time it was anxiety thoughts and not bad thoughts.

“Right,” Alex said. Flynn’s cover did not seem to comfort him. This was, unfortunately, unsurprising. At least it meant Flynn could focus her energy on comfort mode, since she had nothing else productive to do with her worries.

“Hey,” she said, dropping the forced smile and scooting as close as she dared. “I’m sorry. I get it.”

He smiled weakly, getting ready to stand.

“I doubt it,” Alex said.

“What, that I get what it’s like to have the only other queer kid you know be your best friend? That I know what it’s like when your only option is somebody you love, who’s genuinely attractive and _perfect_ for you on paper, and you don’t really love them that way no matter how much you think you should?”

He sat back down.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said.

“It’s ok,” Flynn said. “I don’t talk about it. She’d feel guilty.”

“I’m sure Carrie would want –“

“Oh, god. No, it’s not – not Carrie,” Flynn said. Alex looked slightly relieved.

“Good,” he said. “Uh, good for you.” He gestured at her feebly, realised he was doing it, and clapped his hands together and dropped them into his lap. “I’m glad you have somebody you do love that way.”

Flynn opened her mouth to deny it automatically, but what could she say?

“We’re… not there yet,” she said. “But she’s definitely not – not my other friend. It’s complicated.”

“Yeah,” Alex said with a small laugh. He sighed.

“ _I_ feel guilty,” he admitted. “He’s great. He deserves somebody who cares about him. And I – what good is it, if he dates me and I can’t even…”

Flynn waited. There was something in Alex that had been eating away at him, and she knew him just well enough that she knew she didn’t need to push.

“He likes girls, too,” he admitted quietly. “And I can’t help but feel like… if I hadn’t thought I liked him that way…”

“Ok,” Flynn said. She got the gist. “Every bi person I know would slap you for that. Except maybe Luke, but only because he would never hit you. He’d get super mad, though, I can tell.”

Alex laughed softly.

“You’ve known us for two and a half days,” he said.

“Eh,” Flynn said, shrugging to hide how nervous the comment made her. “I’m an excellent judge of character.”

“How are you so comfortable?” Alex asked her. “Talking like this.”

Flynn bit her lip. She was itching to tell him the truth, because he clearly needed the hope, but that would only snowball into a terrible, timeline-breaking mess.

“I got lucky,” she said. “I had people I could trust. I know, I’m here now, and that says a lot, but nobody ever really taught me that I had to be afraid of myself. Besides. Enough people hate me on sight, what’s one more mark against me by societal standards? I know I’m amazing. That’s all I need.”

“I wish it was that easy,” Alex said.

“Yeah, I haven’t got the nicest brain, but at least anxiety isn’t my problem,” Flynn said off-handedly. She snuck a nervous glance at Alex. “I mean. You seem like an anxious guy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! One of my best friends is – Yeah.”

One of her best friends was literally him, but that wasn’t going to go over great.

“Thanks,” Alex said. “It’s… It’s nice having somebody to talk to about this. I mean, it used to be Luke, but it’s kind of weird now, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” Flynn said. It was why she’d never _quite_ come out to Julie all the way. She knew Flynn was queer, and that was… kind of it. Anything more specific meant potentially acknowledging how Flynn had seen Julie, once upon a time.

“Victoria!”

Carrie stood in the doorway, white-faced and wide-eyed. Flynn had no idea how long she’d been there.

“Can I talk to you?” Carrie said tightly. “Outside?”

“Uh, yeah,” Flynn said. She smiled at Alex reassuringly as she got up.

“I can’t believe you!” Carrie hissed as soon as they were outside. “It’s one thing pretending we’re dating, but acting like you know what it’s like for him –“

“I don’t know the 90s, but I know what it’s like to be gay,” Flynn snapped. “Remember how you keep getting mad at me for acting like I know you? Same thing, Carrie.”

“But – you – I know I’ve heard you say boys are cute.”

“Objectively? Oh my god, Carrie, you do know beauty standards are a thing, right? I’ve seen my share of terrible Hallmark movies, I know what an attractive man is supposed to look like. Bland as hell, but it’s not like I’m in the market. Anyway, Julie’s into guys, I have to have some concept of standards. Gotta know who’s worth her time.”

“How’s that working out for you?” Carrie snorted.

“Well, so far Julie’s only dated people I expressly told her not to date, but I will concede they’re good enough for her.” Before Carrie could ask – Flynn had already accidentally revealed that relationship to Carlos, she was _not_ doing that again if she could help it – she asked the question that was bothering her.

“You wouldn’t have gotten that upset if you were also lying completely, would you?” Flynn said. “I mean, no offense, you don’t strike me as the compassionate ally type. Or a hypocrite,” she added, partly to soften the blow but also because it was mostly true. Carrie was terrible in so many ways, but she always at least _thought_ her logic made sense.

Carrie looked away.

“Carrie,” Flynn said. She looked so _small_ in this moment, like she had back when they were friends. Not the girl who had to fill a room, outshine whatever lighting there was, be the subject of every conversation – just somebody who needed other people, the way everybody else was.

“I’m a lesbian. Ok?” Flynn said. “If anybody is safe to talk to, it’s me.”

“I’m a lesbian, too,” Carrie said, so softly Flynn almost didn’t hear. “I – Nick was…”

“You don’t have to go into it,” Flynn said. “I get it.”

“I was trying something,” Carrie said. “I guess Nick figured somebody who could actually like him back was the better option.”

“Wait, what?” Nick hadn’t mentioned anybody to Flynn. There was the time when he asked Julie out, but that was water so far under the bridge it was out to sea.

“Flynn, I know Nick went to Julie like five minutes after he broke it off,” Carrie said like Flynn was the slow one.

“They’re super _not_ together,” Flynn said. “Let’s just say Nick’s not Julie’s type.”

“Her type,” Carrie said flatly.

“Musicians,” Flynn said. “Yeah. Music.”

It wasn’t a _lie_. Carrie raised her eyebrows like she was working through the implications of that, but she didn’t press.

“You didn’t _tell_ Nick he was your attempt at, like, forcing straightness, did you?”

“I’m not that mean,” Carrie said irritably. “Though, I guess both options are mean.”

“Mean to you, too,” Flynn said. Carrie looked at her like she was trying to tell if Flynn was making fun of her.

“Anyway, I think he could tell,” Carrie finished quickly.

“It does help in relationships when you’re nice to people, lesbian or no,” Flynn couldn’t resist pointing out. Instead of the withering glare Flynn expected, though, Carrie hunched her shoulders. Flynn felt an entirely unwelcome pang of guilt.

“I really am sorry you thought you had to do that,” Flynn offered.

Carrie met her eyes with bewilderment.

“Thank you,” she said slowly, like she was waiting for Flynn to slap her.

“At least now you know your dad will be cool?” Flynn said, eager to prove Carrie’s worst expectations wrong. Take _that_ , Carrie. Flynn was a good person.

Carrie actually laughed.

“This might be the weirdest way anybody’s ever come out to their parents,” she said.

“Yeah, I’ll let you take that crown.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to go eat food because I took forever on this but I'm screaming internally, I love these children.  
> Next time: the girls experience an emotional backslide. It's only been two days, come on, they're still working on a lot of stuff.


	9. Out of My Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carrie and Flynn actually address their past. Also, Julie. And music. And pretty much anything they think will win their argument.

By the third day Carrie was ready to scream. Flynn’s stupid ghost friend hadn’t come back yet – if he was real at all, said a tiny voice in the back of Carrie’s mind – and they still hadn’t figured out how, exactly, they could get Caleb to send them back. Flynn had admitted last night that she wasn’t even sure what kind of magic would work.

“We should just go looking for Caleb ourselves,” Carrie said when Flynn woke up.

“Uh, no? We should not? We can’t just go in there without an introduction.”

“You went in his club before,” Carrie pointed out stubbornly.

“And then I found out Caleb wanted Luke and I there, because it was meant to make us feel hopeless.” Flynn glared at Carrie. “It’s _not._ An _option._ ”

“But sitting here is,” Carrie said. “I bet if it was your dad here, you would be a little more worried about getting home. But no, it’s just your friends!”

“You think I want to be here? They don’t even know me!” Flynn’s voice cracked. Finally, Carrie was _getting_ to her. Carrie dug deeper.

“And that’s more important,” Carrie said. “Right? _Your_ friends, knowing you. Those guys die in what, a couple months? And you’re ok with that, because you know you get to go home to Julie and her precious band and your stupid ghost friend who ghosted _us_ , and it won’t matter what my life looks like when we get back. Because I’m not one of the people you cling to, to make yourself feel special.”

Flynn drew in a slow breath.

“You want to sabotage both of us?” she said. “Fine. Here’s the truth, Carrie. I told you what happened before, when we were in 1995. We had the chance to save Reggie, and he said no. Luke and Alex had _lived_ their lives, and they still wanted to make sure there were versions of them there for us, Julie and Willie and Reggie, and yes, ok, me! They’re my friends! I deserve friends, Carrie, whether or not you believe it!”

Flynn was crying. Carrie didn’t feel as satisfied with that as she usually did.

“Is everything all right?” Bobby called through the door.

“We’re fine!” both girls screamed. They waited in silence as his footsteps slowly retreated down the hall.

“What do you _want_ from me, Carrie? Why do you hate me?” Flynn said. “All I ever did was try to be a good friend.”

“To Julie,” Carrie said. “You always picked Julie.”

“Because of the two of you, she never asked me to choose!” Flynn snapped. “And I would rather have one friend and the promise of more than one friend who never let me be anything other than hers.”

“Well, _I’m_ tired of being second best!” Carrie spat. “Dad has his career. Mom had _whatever_ she had to leave for. You and Julie have each other, and apparently Nick. My own group likes everybody else in it before they like me. Why can’t I be somebody’s first choice?”

She covered her mouth. Carrie hadn’t meant to say any of that. Flynn stared at her.

“Because you keep asking for it,” Flynn said. “First choice is something people _give_ you.”

“What’s _wrong_ with wanting more?” Carrie said petulantly.

“Nothing,” Flynn said. “I want more. But the difference between us, Carrie, is I know when taking more is going to hurt people, and I draw my line there.”

“Yeah, you’re so perfect,” Carrie muttered, rolling her eyes.

“No, I’m not, and I don’t _act_ like it. I am a cool person who cares about people and gets swallowed up in bad thoughts and doesn’t think things through before I say them, I help people and I mess things up, and there is nothing I can ever say to get through to you because you don’t want to be happy, do you?”

“Of course I want to be happy,” Carrie said, flummoxed.

“Then why is it all you ever do is make people feel worse?” Flynn said. “Like. _That’s_ your self-defense mechanism. You convince yourself you’re fine once you’ve made somebody else feel terrible.”

“You don’t _know_ me,” Carrie said stubbornly.

“Nobody does, Carrie,” Flynn said. “Except that you are voluntarily evil.”

“Excuse me?” Carrie scoffed.

“Ok, you want to know why people pick Julie over you? Let’s just – set everything else aside, let’s talk music, Carrie. Just your music. Except it’s your whole vibe, ok? All your songs are about you. You don’t actually interact with any of your dancers, they don’t get their own bows or solos. People like Julie because watching her is like jamming with her. You’re so busy putting up your cutesy sweetheart front that you’ve never learned how to be a real person.”

“I don’t need you to be my manager, Flynn,” Carrie muttered.

“Yeah, because I’ve been so bad for Julie and the Phantoms,” Flynn said.

Carrie searched for a good comeback. Flynn was wrong, obviously. It wasn’t like Carrie needed to cry onstage or hug Kayla every performance just to make it. Her dad made it just fine all alone!

Her dad was a bad example.

“Let’s just… go downstairs and make up an excuse for all the shouting,” Carrie said. She still wanted the last word, though, so she paused with her hand on the door.

“You know what your problem is, Flynn?” she said. “You want everybody else to be vulnerable, _but_ you.”

“Yeah, I know,” Flynn said simply. “I’m working on it. Are you?”

Carrie wrenched the door open and stormed away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a much shorter chapter today, but I had... nowhere else to take it? High energy stuff goes fast, I guess. Anyway the last two chapters were both almost 3000 words so I hope you can forgive me.  
> Also, I hope you can forgive me for the actual content! There was a lot of air to clear and neither one of them is inclined to be nice about it. Nobody hurts you like somebody who's known you forever, but they've finally talked about things they never would have said in other circumstances. Now they can transition towards... you know... that maybe tag I have up there. At last.  
> Next up: Willie finally returns.


	10. This One Is Ridiculous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Willie's semi-triumphant return! Flynn and Carrie are happy to focus on this problem instead of their personal ones.

Neither Flynn nor Carrie would explain to Luke or Carrie’s family what had happened. For one thing, most of the details were way too telling. For another, it was none of their business, which was the reason that Flynn earnestly (and maybe a little angrily) explained to Luke after he asked the second time.

“Wow,” Carrie said simply when Luke retreated hastily.

“What?” Flynn snapped.

Carrie smirked at her with that overly sweet smile Flynn always wanted to smack off her face, but she said nothing else.

It was a relief when Flynn turned the corner and nearly jumped through the ceiling at the sight of Willie, perched on the back of the couch and staring curiously at the room around him.

“Willie!” Flynn hissed. She looked around nervously. Carrie was the only one nearby, but Flynn jerked her head toward the stairs anyway. Carrie grabbed her arm when Flynn tried to walk past.

“This better be your ghost friend,” she muttered. Flynn shook her off.

“Come on, and find out,” Flynn hissed.

“Is everything ok?” Willie asked, looking between the two girls as Flynn opened Julie’s future bedroom door. Flynn shoved the other two inside.

“No,” Flynn said. “Which is why we asked for your help. What did you tell Caleb? What did you say?”

“Well, it’s not like I can hide that you guys are lifers,” Willie said.

“What is he saying?” Carrie said.

“Can you wait long enough for him to say it?” Flynn rolled her eyes. “Please continue, Willie, ignore the local demon.”

“Right,” Willie said with a slightly nervous laugh. “I told him you were a lifer who didn’t realise I was dead.”

“Wait, no, Willie!” Flynn rubbed her face, trying to think how she could explain this to a version of her friend who didn’t realise just how deep in he was. “Look, if he thinks we’re some naïve kids who just got involved with this, if he thinks we’re powerful and we don’t know – That’s exactly the kind of person he wants to _keep_.”

“What?” Carrie asked sharply. Flynn held up a finger, desperately hoping Carrie would actually give her the minute she needed.

“So tell him no,” Willie said, like it was that simple. “Look, I know he puts up these… sales pitches. And he gets a little mad when people say no, but he doesn’t know about your friends this way! And it’s the best cover I’ve got for you.”

Flynn sighed. He was trying. And at least Caleb would be underestimating them.

“Ok,” she said. “Let me just… fill Carrie in, ok?” She relayed what Willie had said as neutrally as she could. Carrie eyed her sceptically.

“Why are you freaking out?”

“You know why, Carrie,” Flynn said. She was too tired to get into this. “I told you. Just… will you play along?”

“I am a lifer who’s new to all this, it’s not a lie,” Carrie said with a flip of her hair. “Can _you_ play along? You kind of blew the fake-dating today.”

“Oh, I blew it?” Flynn said. “ _I_ blew it? You’re the one who picked the fight.”

“So do you want to wait before I take you to Caleb, or…”

“We’ll go as soon as we can,” Flynn said. “Thank you, Willie. Did you set a time?”

“He suggested tonight,” Willie said.

“At his show?”

Willie nodded.

Typical. Caleb was an evil jerk, but apparently he had a small playbook. So far, from what Flynn could tell, his effective plans were limited to musicals and murder. She just hoped he’d stick with the first half of that.

“Great,” Flynn said. “Ok. Tonight, after his show, we talk to him and somehow get Caleb to do some magic for us.”

“Why do you need it?” Willie asked. “Why can’t you get home without it? There’s gotta be an easier way of getting a plane ticket.”

“Willie, I am trusting you with so much right now,” Flynn said. “Please, _please_ trust me.”

His usual smile faded, and he looked at her with a worried expression.

“Are you guys sure you’re ok? I mean… if this is as bad as your faces make it seem, I don’t know if a show is gonna help.”

“It’s what we’ve got,” Flynn said. “And, look, I appreciate it, but I doubt Caleb will loan you to us long enough for you to help us. You’ve got… security. Don’t let us mess with that, ok?”

 _Not_ _yet_ , _anyway_.

“Hey, you’re… kind of the first friend I’ve made in a while,” Willie admitted. “I want to help.”

Flynn touched the underside of her eyes, worried she might be crying.

“Look, I’ve had enough emotions today already, please don’t make me cry,” she said. “You’ll make lots of friends, ok? Oh my god. Come here.”

She pulled him in for a hug, trying to ignore how stiff he was. Her Willie liked to cling in hugs. He was always hanging off Alex like a koala when he got the chance.

It was all going to be fine, and she’d see her Willie soon. She’d see everybody.

“Ok,” Flynn said. She pulled away from the hug, not wanting to push Willie past surprise and into discomfort. The Willie-hug-acclimation was a slow and careful process, assuming you were anybody other than Alex. “Tonight. What time?”

“Seven,” Willie said.

“What did he say?” Carrie asked. Flynn was honestly surprised it had taken her that long to ask. “Not… whatever that was about. I don’t care. But the time. And when will the show end? You said we’d be there after it.”

“Usually it’s about an hour, not including the encore,” Willie said. “He’ll probably want you to mingle, but I can try to get you out as soon as I can.”

“And no weird time warps or anything?” Flynn checked after passing off the time information.

“Only sometimes,” Willie said, in that tone that meant he was playing it off as a joke but he was actually telling the truth.

“This is such a mess,” Flynn said. “Carrie, next time you show up at my door with a magic object to yell at me, don’t hold the magic object while you do it.”

“That’s not how it went,” Carrie muttered.

“It’s kind of how it went,” Flynn said. She pointed at Willie. “Don’t ask! You never heard any of that!”

He laughed.

“Ok,” he said. “Sure.”

“Is your ghost friend just… sticking around until tonight?” Carrie asked, making it absolutely clear she did not want Willie around. Flynn contemplated the wisdom of screaming at her again.

There was a timid knock on the door. Bobby stood on the other side, looking like he expected to be hit.

“Just… letting you know we’re going to practice again today,” he said. “If… that’s not going to stress you two out?”

“Ok, first, I’m really sorry about earlier, and second, thanks for telling us.” Flynn hesitated, trying to think of something that would smooth over all the drama from the morning.

“Hey, Bobby? You coming?” Alex came up the stairs. Flynn’s eyes widened as she remembered that Willie was in the room with her.

“Have a good rehearsal!” she said quickly before almost slamming the door. She opened the door a second later, regretting her choices. “I’m not trying to be rude! Just… you know. Go do your rehearsal, don’t let us keep you!” Flynn waved until Bobby and Alex had disappeared down the stairs. She pretended she didn’t see the confused glances the guys kept sending her.

“Ok,” Flynn said. “Willie, I would love for you to stick around, but also I do not want those guys to see me talking to a ghost.”

And she didn’t want Willie to see Alex early, because that really could get messy in twenty-five years or so if not sooner, but there was no good way to say that.

“Fair enough,” Willie said. His smile didn’t quite look real, and Flynn very carefully clung to the sense of purpose that she usually used when trying to convince Julie dating two ghosts was not the way to go. It was all she had as a defence in the face of puppy-dog eyes, and while it rarely worked to convince others it at least helped her hang on to her convictions.

“We’ll see you tonight,” Flynn said. “Thank you, really.”

“See you then,” Willie said. “Tell Carrie I said bye?”

“Right, yep. I’ll do that,” Flynn said. The worst part was, when Willie was gone, her conscience wouldn’t let her ignore that.

“Willie said goodbye,” she muttered grudgingly to Carrie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After all that character development, have some plot. Also Willie! Who remains very confused but has latched on to Flynn like the lonely ghost boy he is.  
> Flynn playing reverse matchmaker is a very fun concept to me. She's just like "if you see him it's all over, you'll never forget him" and I don't really think that's true but Flynn is enough of a romantic at heart that she firmly believes the timeline will drastically change if Willie so much as gets a good look at Alex.  
> Next time: Flynn's second (third?) time in Caleb's club. Carrie's first introduction to it. Ghosts are seen when they should not be.


	11. I Make an Entrance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carrie and Flynn are planning to finally get home, but first they have to play nice with Caleb. Also, Carrie makes a surprising discovery.

Carrie finally broke the silent treatment a little before Willie was due to return.

“What are we going to tell them?” she asked Flynn. “I mean, are we just going to disappear, or will we be coming back after this?”

“I don’t know, Carrie,” Flynn snapped. She clenched her fists, visibly trying to calm herself. “I don’t know. I hope we’ll be able to just… leave.”

“Ok,” Carrie said. She was itching to press further, get to Flynn as badly as she’d gotten to Carrie earlier, but they were so close to home.

Besides. Carrie was self-aware enough to admit that would only launch Flynn back into the fight, and she wasn’t sure she could take another round of Flynn’s scrutiny.

“So we tell them that, then,” Carrie said. If she still made sure her tone of voice conveyed how obvious it was, that was just what she deserved. “That we’re pretty sure we’ve got something set up and we probably won’t be back, but it might end up taking longer than we expect and there’s a chance we’d need to stay one more night.”

Flynn eyed her like she’d been expecting something a little more dramatic.

“That’s actually not bad,” she said. “I feel weird, though. Expecting all this help.”

Carrie rolled her eyes.

“I’m sure you can pay them back when they’re my grandparents again,” she said. “Good luck explaining that.”

Flynn laughed at that. Carrie smiled.

Carrie’s grandparents seemed dubious, which was fair since Carrie and Flynn couldn’t provide much information on their plan.

“We have a friend who’s going to help us get to family,” Flynn explained. “ _Good_ family. We’ll be ok, we just don’t know if he’ll be able to get us going tonight or tomorrow.”

“I’d feel better if you let us help,” Carrie’s grandmother said.

“Wow, you guys are so much like Julie’s dad,” Flynn muttered. Carrie kicked her. Not that her grandparents would cause a total timeline collapse because they remembered Flynn knew somebody named Julie, but still.

“We’ll be ok, I swear,” Carrie said. “Thank you, for all your help.”

“Yeah, even when we were kind of terrible you guys were really nice,” Flynn said.

“You girls need a ride?” Carrie’s grandfather asked.

“Uh…” Flynn looked at Carrie. “I was about to say no, but also I don’t think we have bus fare. Carrie, do you –“

“I use a credit card,” Carrie said. Who just carried change around? How much _was_ bus fare in the 90s, anyway?

“Of course you do,” Flynn said.

“So you _do_ need a ride,” Carrie’s grandfather said. Flynn wrinkled her nose, casting a nervous glance at Carrie before telling them the name of the hotel Caleb’s club was in. Carrie frowned. It was a hotel she remembered visiting once, but never again, when she’d been a little kid.

Her dad had been really stressed that trip. She had a fuzzy memory of it ending early, with her dad hastening Carrie and her mom out the door as soon as they’d packed.

Carrie carefully packed that thought away to be dealt with at a much later date. Or maybe never, considering to really dig into that memory she’d probably end up needed to ask Flynn and Julie for help.

“A rich kid,” Bobby muttered.

“Clearly so is Carrie,” Flynn said, obviously holding in laughter. Carrie rolled her eyes. Yes, it was so funny that Carrie’s rich father was commenting on somebody’s wealth. They really needed to move on.

Flynn’s head jerked to the side for a second. There was nothing and nobody there when Carrie looked, which she hoped meant that Willie had arrived. Confirming Carrie’s suspicions, a second later Flynn whipped her head around and smiled at Carrie’s family.

“We need to go! To meet him on time. If that’s ok?”

The ride was a little uncomfortable, with Carrie and Flynn trying to avoid committing to anything in the future. Carrie’s grandfather was hoping they would let him know when they reached somewhere safe. For obvious reasons, that was a difficult thing to promise.

Carrie also wasn’t sure if Flynn’s ghost friend was there or not. She wasn’t behaving like somebody was talking to her, but maybe Flynn was just better at hiding things than Carrie had thought.

Finally, they made it to the hotel. Carrie was hit with a wave of nerves as she got out of the car, and she steadied herself against the door for a second.

“You ok?” Flynn asked quietly. “I’m kind of counting on you, here.”

“I’m fine!” Carrie snapped. “I’m – I’m fine, Flynn. I’m just not used to this stuff.”

“So let’s go home, and make sure you don’t have to get used to it,” Flynn said. “Come on, before Robert Senior over there wonders what’s wrong with us.”

Carrie nodded, waved at her grandfather with a smile, and followed Flynn to the door.

“Can I help you?” the doorman asked, eyeing the girls sceptically. Carrie bristled, set to do her “don’t you know who I am” routine, but Flynn just smiled and waved.

“We’re friends of Willie’s?” she said pointedly. “Caleb’s expecting us.”

The doorman frowned, looking them up and down nervously.

“You – you’re ghosts?” he stammered.

“We might be,” Flynn said. “But my death is none of your business. Come on, Carrie. We have a meeting.” She grabbed Carrie’s hand and pulled her past the doorman into the hotel, head held high in a surprisingly good imitation of some of the more old-money people Carrie had met over the years.

“You’re insane,” Carrie said as Flynn pulled her down the hallway.

“You should have seen how it went down with Luke and I,” Flynn muttered. She grinned at an empty space beside her. “That is _also_ a story you will hear later. I can pretty much promise I will personally be the one to tell you about it.”

Carrie remembered that part of Flynn’s story. She covered her mouth to hide her laughter.

Flynn, or maybe Willie, led them deeper into the hotel. Flynn paused before a set of double doors. Carrie realised the other girl was still holding her hand when Flynn squeezed Carrie’s palm. After a moment of indecision, Carrie squeezed back.

From the tiny glance Flynn sent her way, apparently she’d forgotten they were holding hands, too. Oh, well.

The doors swung open, and for a second Carrie could have sworn she saw a boy flicker into view, grinning at Flynn as he pushed the doors open and backed onto the balcony behind him, but the illusory teenager was forgotten as she stepped through and saw the room below.

It wasn’t unusual, for Carrie’s life – she’d been to plenty of parties with her dad, though not nearly as many as he’d been invited to or even attended. But half of the people dressed in evening clothes milling about were flickering in and out of view. She saw a woman in an evening dress step _through_ a man who kept talking like she wasn’t there.

“Do you… see that?” Carrie asked.

“Hey, Willie? Caleb only makes ghosts visible _after_ the show, right?” Flynn asked.

“What did he say?” Carrie asked after a few seconds.

“He said yeah,” Flynn said. “But I see ghosts. And you see ghosts. Which should not be happening. But at least you’ll see people?”

“Right,” Carrie said. “People like that.”

Two people came storming out of the wings, one a woman in a leotard and the other a man in a pink jacket, and they passed through a few people without stopping. The man grabbed for the woman’s wrist, and Carrie tensed.

“Enough!” Even from below, the man’s voice carried as he slid a hand smoothly between the two fighting ghosts. He grabbed the first man’s wrist and twisted, forcing him back a pace. The woman stumbled back, holding onto her recently freed wrist.

“That’s Caleb,” Flynn said softly. She looked to her other side, then back down. “Willie says that ghost has been a jerk ever since he joined the club.”

Caleb was speaking in a hushed tone to the ghost.

“I want to know what they’re saying,” Carrie said. She ignored Flynn frantically hissing her name and grabbing at her arm as Carrie hurried down the stairs as quickly as she dared. She paused at the bottom, just close enough to hear what Caleb was saying.

“I warned you,” he said softly to the other ghost. “I will not have you threaten anyone else in my club.”

There was a slight flash of purple where Caleb was holding the other ghost’s wrist.

“Oh my god,” Flynn said from behind Carrie’s shoulder. “He stamped him.”

“Wait, like – like when you put on that show?” Carrie said, aware that Flynn wanted to keep as many details as possible from Willie.

“Exactly like that,” Flynn said.

“You have a week,” Caleb said to the ghost in front of him. “You’ll get little reminders, and if you don’t improve your behaviour, my friend, you won’t be long for this club.”

He pulled the other ghost in close and whispered something into his ear. The other ghost pulled away, looking at Caleb with horror.

“So that ghost…” Carrie said.

“Yeah,” Flynn said. “How much do you want to bet the thing Caleb just whispered was something like ‘or long for this world’?”

“No bet,” Carrie muttered.

Caleb looked around, and his eyes landed on them. He smiled at the two girls, spreading his hands wide as he approached.

“You must be Willie’s new friends,” he said. “I should have realised you’d see that little altercation. I’m so sorry, we can’t always get character references on club members but it’s important to maintain a sense of unity here. You understand.”

“Totally,” Carrie said. “That guy seemed like a jerk.”

Caleb laughed.

“You are a blunt one, aren’t you?” he said. “Come on. William, show the girls to their table. I’ll see you after the show. Genevieve, darling, it’s almost time! Are you feeling up for it?”

The woman from earlier smiled at him shakily. Carrie realised Flynn was still holding her arm and shook her off, only for half the people around her to disappear from view.

Tentatively, Carrie let her hand brush Flynn’s as they headed over to a reserved table. For the second they were in contact, the flickering images of ghosts came back into view, including a long-haired boy just ahead of them.

Carrie sat down hard in the seat opposite Flynn.

Whatever was going on here, Flynn had more magic than she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A possibly incomplete list of tiny Flynn foreshadowings: a toe stubbed on nothing, a physical hair that came from an intangible ghost, and also at one point in the previous long fic she replied to something Luke said. I have been sitting on this for so long, folks. Oh my god.  
> Also, we're finally moving on from Bobby's house! This is not the last curveball I will be throwing your way. You are all very welcome.  
> Next time: after the show, Carrie and Flynn try to get some magic out of Caleb. It works, but does it get them home?


	12. Headlining This Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn's trauma pops up, and leads her to reject Caleb's help. Thankfully, she has other people on her side.

Flynn and Carrie were probably the least invested audience members Caleb’s club had ever hosted. Flynn wasn’t quite sure what Carrie was thinking, but for her part it was incredibly difficult to get into a show when she knew none of the performers were free to do anything else.

After what felt like the entire twenty-five years between them and home, the show was over. Flynn looked at Willie.

“So when is he gonna get his butt over –“

“Hello!”

Flynn slammed her mouth shut so fast her teeth clicked. Caleb stood over them, grinning widely.

“Now, don’t tell me,” he said. He pointed to Flynn. “Flynn? And this is Carrie.”

Flynn eyed Willie, a little annoyed at the thought that he might have given Caleb any details about her, but to be fair Caleb had a fifty-fifty shot. She smiled nervously as Caleb sat, preparing her speech.

“So you’re supposed to be super powerful?” Carrie asked. Flynn stared across the table at Willie, whose look of horror matched the one on her own face.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Caleb said, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve picked up a few skills here and there.”

“Well, that makes more sense, because I can’t imagine somebody who could do _real_ magic would just open up a club and wear sequins all the time.”

Flynn was torn between gaping with astonishment and laughing hysterically. Carrie Wilson, of all people, was calling somebody out for wearing too many sequins? The world must be ending.

Willie laughed nervously.

“Ah, Caleb, they were hoping you could… answer a few questions about the afterlife,” he jumped in quickly. “Since they don’t know why they started seeing ghosts.”

“Believe me, it was a surprise,” Carrie muttered, fingers flexing around Flynn’s hand. Flynn hadn’t realised Carrie was still hanging on to her. She had no idea what to think of that, but now really wasn’t the time to process.

“Well, I must say I’ve never met lifers like you two before,” Caleb said, looking between them the way people eyed cuts of meat at the grocery store when they couldn’t decide what they wanted for dinner. Flynn took slow breaths, smile fixed on her face. “But let’s see what we can figure out between us, shall we?”

“I’m not convinced you’re any more special than Willie,” Carrie said petulantly. Flynn kicked her under the table. Carrie kicked back. “Why shouldn’t we just have asked him our questions?”

“What are you doing?” Flynn hissed.

“You really want to answer his questions?” Carrie muttered back. She lifted her chin and stared Caleb down. “Willie told us you could do magic. Prove it.”

“I’m sure that’s not necessary,” Willie said, but Caleb held up a hand sharply. Willie shrank back in his seat, worry flashing over his face. Flynn held her breath, digging her nails into Carrie’s hand. A tiny grunt was the only sign that Carrie felt it.

“Fine,” Caleb said. “I’ll give you girls a real magic show, then.”

Flynn reached for her bag, worming her hand under the flap and wrapping it around the lifeless Instrument. She tightened her grip on Carrie, too, just in case.

“William,” Caleb said. “You don’t mind, do you? Just for a minute.”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” Flynn asked. Willie just shrugged, and Caleb smiled at her.

“Just a small demonstration,” he said, and then Willie raised one of his hands, shaking it jazz-hand style. Willie glanced at his own hand with surprise as the Instrument started to hum, and Flynn knew.

“No,” she said, jumping up from the table. The Instrument went dead again as she lost her grip on it, and a second later Willie’s hand dropped again. Everyone stared at her.

The first time Flynn had been here flashed in front of her eyes. Willie, blank-faced as he danced. When he’d met her eyes and missed a step. The way she and Luke had run from the building afterward. Then it was the way things had been the second time, when Flynn had to help a half-dead Nick from the building, and the vague descriptions the boys had given her of Julie having to push Caleb from her head. All the different ways Caleb had controlled people.

She couldn’t watch him do it again.

“We’re good, actually,” Flynn said, grabbing at Carrie’s shoulder, who glared at Flynn even as she stood up. “No mind control needed.”

“You’re the ones who asked for a demonstration,” Caleb laughed, standing up.

“Well, we thought you had a bigger repertoire than that,” Flynn said. She looked at Willie. “I’m sorry. I – I hope I didn’t mess anything up for you.” She pulled Carrie away as fast as she dared, trying to pretend that the way she was clinging to Carrie didn’t remind her of the first time she’d come here.

“What was that?” Carrie asked as they hurried out of the hotel. “We were so close!”

“Carrie, I can’t. I can’t do it, I can’t _watch_ …” Flynn stopped and leaned against a tree, tangling her fingers in her braids. She was gasping for breath, and not because of how fast she’d run.

“Whoa, hey, it’s ok. Oh my god. Flynn, calm down because I _am not_ the person you want to help you with this.”

Flynn laughed.

“Please don’t start singing,” she said.

“Oh my god, you’ve lost your mind.”

Flynn laughed harder, which was better than the tears she’d felt coming on a few seconds ago.

“Ok,” she said. “Come on. Let’s… let’s go.”

“We don’t have bus fare, remember?” Carrie said. “Or a phone.”

“Well, we can’t go back in there,” Flynn said. “God, all of this was such a waste.” She slid down the tree, her shirt catching on the bark as she hit the ground hard. Carrie knelt beside her, looking bewildered.

“We’ll figure something out,” she said. “Right?”

“Excuse me?”

Flynn and Carrie looked up, and Flynn forgot how to form words.

“This is going to sound strange, but… I had a feeling you would need my help.”

It was Julie’s mother, younger and leather-clad, leaning against a car door with her curious gaze locked on the two girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't know this was how I would fix things until about chapter... seven? eight? Originally Carrie and Flynn were meant to take some time to put on disguises, meaning there was less risk the guys would remember them, but Carrie threw that out the window. Rose is my way of fixing that, which will make more sense tomorrow.  
> (Also raise your hand if you're unsettled by Willie just being like "ok yeah you can do that creepy control magic" because. I wrote that and I felt skeeved. I, too, would have rushed the heck out of there.)  
> Next time: Rose offers up some explanations, and some help.


	13. Got the Melody Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carrie and Flynn learn about magic, and their best friend's mother, and also secretly each other.

“You –“ Carrie’s voice wasn’t working. Yes, all right, she’d been looking at a lot of dead people lately but they’d all still been _around_.

Julie’s mom was gone. Julie’s mom was here.

This was such a weird day.

“How did you know to find us?” Flynn said.

“I told you it would sound strange,” Rose said, offering Flynn her hand. With a nervous glance at Carrie, Flynn let Julie’s mom – Julie’s mom! – pull her up. Carrie stood, brushing at her skirt more for something to do than because of any dirt. “I knew you needed me.”

“Oh my god, is everybody magic?” Carrie muttered. And where was _her_ magic? That was rude of the universe.

“Wait, what?” Flynn said, staring at Carrie.

“She’s right,” Rose said. “Look, can I give you a ride somewhere? Uh – I’m Rose, by the way. I know you don’t know me, but –“

“A ride would be nice,” Carrie cut in, because she didn’t think she could handle Julie’s mom, the woman who helped raise her, talking about how they didn’t know each other. It was one thing even with her dad and grandparents, who had looked different enough. But Rose looked so much like her older self it made Carrie’s chest ache.

“Where to?” Rose asked.

Carrie gave her Bobby’s house, which meant she was giving Rose her future address which belonged currently to Carrie’s family and how had that _never_ come up?

“All right,” Rose said with a grin, clearly not noticing Carrie’s internal crisis. “Who wants shotgun?”

Carrie and Flynn eyed each other warily.

“If we let ourselves argue about this, it _will_ turn into a full-fledged fight,” Flynn said. Carrie scowled, unable to protest.

“Backseat?” she suggested. Flynn rolled her eyes.

“Backseat,” Flynn agreed.

Carrie pretended not to notice Rose laughing into her hand as she unlocked the car.

“So how did you find us? Or even know to look?” Carrie asked. “This place is kind of out of the way.”

“I like to… seek opportunity,” Rose said. “Magic helps with that.”

“Yeah, no offense, because you’re amazing and I’m really glad you’re here no matter how weird this is, but that doesn’t actually explain anything,” Flynn said.

“Do you have the time and interest for a lecture on how magic works?” Rose asked wryly. Carrie was actually pretty sure that was a good idea, at this point.

“Maybe,” Flynn muttered. She reached into her bag, then pulled her hand out again with a look of shock.

“Flynn?” Carrie asked.

“I – The Instrument worked.” Flynn reached back in, and this time Carrie could hear it. The humming, so low it was almost a feeling.

“So we can go home!” Carrie said. The hum stopped as Flynn pulled her hand back out.

“No,” she said. “I – Not yet. We don’t know what home will even look like. We’ve messed everything up.”

Carrie ran a hand through her hair nervously. Flynn was right. Would Carrie even be born? And now Julie’s mom had seen them, what would she think in so many years when her daughter was hanging out with a Flynn and a Carrie?

“We can’t stay,” she said, knowing it was maybe the least useful thing she could say. “The longer we do…”

“I know!” Flynn said. “I know. But the guys will remember us, especially Luke, Alex, and Reggie. For them it’s only a couple months until they’ll see me again.”

“Why are you worried about people remembering you?” Rose cut in. “Because if it’s a really good reason, I might be able to help.”

“Can you erase your _own_ memory?” Carrie muttered.

“I haven’t tried,” Rose said. “But I’m always ready for something new, and I have a feeling I’d be able to.”

Carrie looked at Flynn. Flynn looked back at her.

“I trust her,” Carrie offered. “I know you do.”

“And she’s way better than Caleb,” Flynn said. “We time travelled. From the future.”

The whole story spilled out, Carrie interjecting often to make sure Flynn didn’t skew Rose’s perspective too much in Flynn’s favour. She was _not_ about to let Flynn misrepresent their arguments. They glossed over the whole “we know your future daughter who hangs out with ghosts” thing, but all that had happened since they came back was fair game.

“So, this is a Back to the Future situation,” Rose said finally. “And Calvin Klein won’t cut it.”

“Yeah, _somebody_ went with Carrie instead of Clint Eastwood,” Flynn said.

“Why would I say my name was Clint Eastwood?” Carrie said, fully aware of the reference. She grinned triumphantly as Flynn sputtered in indignation.

“I’m pretty sure I can help,” Rose said. “Not that I can just make them forget, but I can blur their memories of you, so when they meet you again it will be like the first time.”

“Really? Because J – my friend only can do magic on ghosts,” Flynn said.

Rose actually glanced back at them for a second, looking surprised. As she turned back to the road, she said, “I guess death must be important to her.”

The overwhelming irony of Julie’s dead mother saying that hit Carrie full-force. She had to put her head down by her knees, and a second later she felt Flynn awkwardly pat her on the back. Carrie turned her head enough to share a glance with Flynn, who looked as uncomfortable with what Rose had said as Carrie was.

“What does that even mean?” Flynn said. Her hand was still on Carrie’s shoulder, even when Carrie sat up. The other girl’s touch was weirdly warm, and Carrie tried not to tense under her touch.

The last thing she wanted to do was cause a fight with Flynn in front of Rose.

“Magic comes from the thing you give power to,” Rose said. “And then it gives it back to you. That’s how my aunt explained it.”

“So my friend… thinks a lot about death, and her magic comes out connected to ghosts,” Flynn said.

“Then what’s yours?” Carrie said. “What makes you so sure you can affect my family’s memories like that?”

Rose smiled as they arrived in the driveway of what was apparently the most supernaturally important house in LA. She shut off the car and turned around to look at them.

“Opportunity,” she offered. “Adventure. The chances life offers you. When a job or a class or just a casual drive will take me to people I need to see. Meeting people I missed the chance to meet once before. Letting people have a second first meeting, in your case. That’s my magic.”

“That must be nice,” Carrie murmured.

“Well, I try not to think about it, but I think your friend would agree with me – you never know how long you have. You have to get the most out of it. Regrets are a waste of time.”

Carrie’s eyes stung, and she hastily got out of the car before Flynn or Rose could see her cry. Flynn scrambled out of the car a moment later, hurrying around the back and touching Carrie’s shoulder tentatively.

“Hey,” Flynn said softly. “I miss her, too.”

Carrie’s gut clenched. She turned and pulled Flynn into a desperate hug. So long as Flynn didn’t mention the tears spilling onto her shoulders, Carrie wouldn’t bring up the tears leaking onto her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I... terrible? For Julie's magic? Or that conversation at the end?  
> Look, the lesbians are hugging so at least there's that?  
> Carrie has not yet had the chance to tell Flynn about the whole "I saw ghosts when I held your hand" thing but an enterprising person might be able to guess what Flynn's magic Thing is? Once things calm down a little it will come up, but unfortunately things may not be calm enough for long enough for... a while. I still have three long fics planned after this, like a nerd.  
> Next up: the girls wrap up loose ends, and Carrie is secure enough in her character development to offer her lesson up to somebody else.


	14. On the Rise Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flynn is ready to get home. Carrie has learned something.

“Hi,” Flynn said awkwardly when Bobby opened the door. “Uh – we’re ok! We have a way home, everything’s fine, we just wanted to say thank you.”

Bobby pointed at Rose, who stood just past Flynn’s shoulder, and raised an eyebrow.

“She’s family,” Flynn said. “Cool family. Obviously.”

“Thanks,” Rose muttered.

“The… guys are here,” Bobby said awkwardly as Flynn barrelled into the house. She wasn’t worried about being polite at this point, and it wasn’t like she didn’t know her way around this house.

“Great, we’ll say goodbye all at the same time,” Flynn said. Then it was just Caleb and Willie, hopefully. Could Rose do magic on ghosts?

 _One thing at a time, Flynn_ , she told herself.

“Victoria!” Carrie’s grandmother called in surprise when she saw Flynn. Flynn pretended not to notice the curious glance Rose sent her. “You’re back. Is everything all right?”

“We wanted to thank you one last time,” Flynn said.

“We were coming back past here anyway,” Carrie added. “This is… Flynn’s cousin!”

Rose waved, looking amused.

“Bobby said the band was here,” Flynn said.

“Yeah, it was a rough evening for them,” Carrie’s grandmother said slowly. Flynn opened her mouth to ask why, but Carrie pinched her arm.

“We just wanted to say goodbye, maybe apologise for freaking out earlier,” Carrie said. “We won’t bother them.”

“That’s sweet of you,” Carrie’s grandmother said. “They’re all up in Bobby’s room, which I _think_ is where he disappeared to.”

“We’ll go talk to them,” Flynn said. “Uh…” She glanced at Rose, unsure what the older girl needed to do her thing. Rose winked at her and approached Carrie’s grandmother.

“I wanted to thank you for taking care of the girls,” she said, reaching out for a handshake. “If anything happened to my… cousin, I don’t know what we’d have done.”

“It’s no problem,” Carrie’s grandmother said as Carrie pushed Flynn up the stairs. “If it was Bobby or one of his friends, I could only hope somebody would do the same.”

“She is so nice,” Flynn hissed at Carrie as they reached Bobby’s door.

“I know,” Carrie said. She stared at her future father’s door like it held all of life’s secrets. “It’s too bad Dad made sure their relationship crashed and burned.”

“Hey, Carrie,” Flynn said, worried. She touched Carrie’s elbow gently, and was pleased when Carrie actually turned to look at her. “Are you ok?”

“Ready to go home,” Carrie admitted. “Aren’t you?”

“Oh my god, I was ready before we ever left,” Flynn said, knocking on Bobby’s door.

“Can you give me a minute with him maybe?” Carrie asked suddenly. Flynn glanced at the door in alarm, hearing the boys scuffling around inside. “Please.”

Flynn didn’t remember the last time Carrie had said “please.” She wasn’t sure Carrie had ever said “please” to her.

“If I can get the others out of the way,” Flynn said, and then had to shut up because Bobby opened the door.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” Flynn said, because Carrie seemed to have no intention of saying anything. “We’re taking off soon. So we wanted to thank you guys for everything. Even when we were being jerks, you were really nice to us.”

“Aww,” Reggie said. “I hope your new place is great! Come here!” He darted forward and snatched Carrie up in a hug. She patted him stiffly on the back, staring frantically at Flynn like she could communicate her need for help with her eyes alone.

“Let it happen, Carrie,” Flynn said gleefully, spreading her arms over both of them and laying her head on Carrie’s shoulder, just to be annoying.

“God, I hate you,” Carrie said, and for once it didn’t sound like she meant it. Flynn laughed.

She had a promise to keep, then.

“Hey, you guys gotta meet my cousin,” she said. “Come on!” She pulled away and started tugging Luke and Alex to the door, jerking her head towards Bobby when Carrie looked at her. Reggie, predictably, trailed after Luke. Flynn was not above manipulating Julie’s boys to get them where they needed to be, but also they often made it really easy.

 _Thank you,_ Carrie mouthed at her. Flynn pointedly did not examine the little bubble of warmth in her chest.

“Can I talk to you?” Carrie asked as Bobby prepared to follow everyone out of his room. He stared at her, obviously puzzled.

“Just… some advice,” Carrie said.

Bobby laughed.

“Sure,” he said. “Go for it.”

“Your friends aren’t always gonna be here,” Carrie said. “And I used to think that meant there was no point in making friends at all. But… look, someday somebody you care about could be gone. Don’t miss out on time, ok?”

Bobby frowned.

“Who did you lose?”

Carrie’s breath caught. She heard Rose’s laugh come up the stairs and through the open door, and for a moment it was like the days she and Julie and Flynn had sat in this room, setting up posters under the imperious command of a seven-year-old Carlos Molina.

“My best friend’s mom,” she said. “Except I stopped being friends with her. So I couldn’t even miss her, because what right did I have?”

“Man,” Bobby said. “That’s rough.”

Carrie laughed.

“Yeah, it kind of is,” she said. “And I was _not_ nice about it, either. The point is – you have friends who are like family, right? Hold on to them. Nothing is more important than that.”

“You are a weird girl, Carrie,” Bobby said.

“Yeah, I’m actually the normal one,” Carrie said. “That should tell you something about everybody else in my life.”

Rose met them at the bottom of the stairs.

“And you’re Bobby,” she said. She looked between Carrie and Bobby, like she was looking for a resemblance, and Carrie ducked her head. She was offering advice to him, sure, but she still wasn’t sure how she felt about being related to a plagiarist.

“Hey,” Bobby said, shaking his hair back from his eyes in a way that made Carrie want to wash her eyeballs. She didn’t need this in her life. She didn’t _want_ this in her life. Rose was what, nineteen? Way too old for her dad. Carrie prayed to every god she could think of that she was reading too much into this, but also she’d seen her dad around supermodels and his playbook had _not_ changed with his name.

“Thanks for helping them out,” Rose said, taking Bobby’s hand with the indulgent smile of a woman who knew she was not at all interested in what a teenage boy was bringing to the table. Carrie and Flynn exchanged mortified glances.

“And now,” Rose said a few seconds later, dropping Bobby’s hand and leaving him staring ahead, looking dazed. “We go before your second first meeting comes before you’re ready.”

“So they’ll forget everything?” Carrie asked as they ducked out, pausing to make sure the door was locked. When she caught Flynn watching her, she scowled. Flynn grinned back.

“They’ll remember you but not the specifics,” Rose said. “That’s everybody, right? Your grandparents and four people in that band?”

“There’s Willie and Caleb, too,” Flynn said. “The ghosts.”

“Ah,” Rose said. “Not that I’ve hung out with a lot of ghosts, but…”

“Our friend can’t do magic on lifers, and you can’t do magic on ghosts,” Flynn said, like she’d half-expected it. Rose shrugged sheepishly.

“Caleb only met us once,” Carrie offered. “And we’re not the ones he really wants, right?”

“We will be now,” Flynn muttered. “But I trust Willie.”

“Ok,” Carrie said. “So we have to keep trusting him.”

“Seriously, who are you and what did you do with Carrie Wilson?” Flynn asked. Carrie rolled her eyes.

“Shut up, Flynn,” she said.

“Do you want me to shut up, or do you want me to send us home?” Flynn asked, flipping the top of her bag open and letting her hand hover over the opening. She glanced at Rose. “You promise you’ll make yourself forget us, too?”

“You know I know that would only matter if I know you in the future,” Rose said.

“So you know why it matters,” Carrie said. She’d forgotten how annoying Rose could get when she thought something was funny. Or maybe she’d assumed that was a mom thing and not a Rose thing. Flynn’s mom got the same way sometimes.

“All right, I promise,” Rose said. “How does your time travel thing work, though?”

“Uh, love?” Flynn said. “Love and magic.”

“Vague,” Rose said, perching on the hood of her car and watching them with bright eyes. “I like it. You’ll have to tell future me about it when you get back.”

Flynn winced.

“We will,” Carrie said softly. “Flynn?” She held out her hand, pretending she didn’t notice it was shaking. Flynn smiled at her and grabbed Carrie’s hand.

“Here we go,” Flynn said, reaching into her bag. There was a second of that low humming, and then the world changed around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyyyy one more chapter! I'm screaming I can't believe this fic exists now, too. Look at them. All character-developed and well-time-traveled.  
> On that note, I did make this officially just enemies to friends, the "to lovers" part will be the next big fic. We're all reading that good gay subtext, though, right? Please tell me if not, I'll try and make sure it's nice and overt in the last chapter.  
> In other news, Rose is fun to write. I am excited for future Rose content. This is not meant to sound ominous but you all know me and my plans well enough that it probably is, and I'm sorry about that.  
> Next up: the girls are home! First order of business: Flynn and Julie hugs. Second order of business: finding out what's changed.


	15. Chain React

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gay (platonic) hugs. Gay panic. Also, regular panic. Just a regular day in this universe, really.

Flynn was home. The Instrument was gone from her hand, hopefully with Carrie, and nobody was around.

“Julie,” Flynn said. “Mom, I’m going to Julie’s!”

“When did you get back from there?” her mother called as Flynn bolted out the door.

The neighbourhood went by in a blur of speed and tears that were _mostly_ because of the wind. Flynn stopped in the Molinas’ driveway, hands on her knees as she caught her breath.

“Flynn? Hey, Julie, Flynn’s here!”

Flynn was still too winded and freaked out to process the fact that she had just heard Luke shouting, no music required. She stood up as Julie hurried out of the studio.

“Flynn! What happened, was it the Instrument? You were gone!”

“Believe me,” Flynn said, reaching for Julie and pulling her close, “I know.”

Julie rubbed Flynn’s back gently.

“Where did you go?” she asked softly.

“The past,” Flynn said. “Great. Jules, we have to figure out what changed. I know we were all at my house when I left, but I don’t know why that changed.” She stepped back from the hug reluctantly. The ghosts had gathered, and Flynn could _see_ them all, and not faintly the way she had the club ghosts, and that was something she really had to pick apart when she had the time because how did _that_ happen, and they were watching her with concern.

“Willie,” Flynn said. “So, do you remember a couple weirdoes asking you for help and refusing to explain or…”

“Oh, thank god, I was having a really hard time pretending that never happened,” he said with a laugh. Flynn snorted. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but it really should have been that. Flynn kind of wished she could remember meeting Willie in this timeline, because that would have been hilarious.

“Wait, pretending what never happened? Dude! Did you meet Flynn in the past and you never told us?” Alex’s offended voice was a little higher pitched than Flynn had imagined it, but she’d been surprisingly on point for the most part.

“Yeah, it was actually ’94,” Willie said. “But I’ve always wondered about Carrie.”

“What?” Flynn asked.

“She was your girlfriend, right?” Willie said.

“I – what? No. _No!_ Carrie? Pffft,” Flynn said. “How could I – why would I – she’s Carrie!”

So what if she was pretty, and starting to figure out how to be nice again, she was still _Carrie_ and that was weird. It wasn’t like Flynn was going to fall all over herself now that she knew Carrie was a lesbian and therefore available. Or because Carrie had been surprisingly helpful in the past. Flynn was so not interested in Carrie, she didn’t even need to think of reasons that she wasn’t interested.

“And who is Carrie?” Julie said.

All thoughts of Flynn’s hypothetical relationship with Carrie flew out of her head. She thought she might puke.

“Jules,” she said, as rationally as she could. “Tell me that the name Carrie Wilson means anything to you. Or at the very least that we didn’t somehow make Bobby decide never to have kids.”

“Bobby like our Bobby?” Julie said.

“Nope,” Flynn said. “No, no, we are not doing this. I refuse.”

“Where is Bobby?” Reggie asked.

“Hey, guys,” said the voice of seventeen-year-old Bobby, who was _not_ Trevor Wilson and had _not_ contributed to the birth of the bane of Flynn’s existence. “I met a new ghost!”

“Wait, wasn’t she alive in the nineties?” Willie said.

“I mean, so were we,” Reggie pointed out.

Flynn had a sinking feeling she knew exactly who the “ghost” in question was. She turned around slowly to see Bobby grinning at her from just in front of the studio doors, pointing enthusiastically at Carrie.

Carrie glared at Flynn, one hand clenched so tightly around the Instrument there was no colour in her knuckles at all.

“Flynn,” she said. “I might, maybe, be willing to admit that I messed up possibly a little.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Oops?  
> More will be revealed about what has changed and why, as we go into the next fic, which is still unnamed because I'm trying to think of a movie in a similar vein to Bill and Ted to base the title off of. On a semi-related note, in order to make sure I have this alternate timeline fleshed out properly (why did I do this to myself) I am going on a hiatus-ish thing of indeterminate length. I plan on posting an interlude, as I have previously, and I may have other things that I end up writing in the meantime, but be aware that unfortunately we'll all be living in cliffhanger land for a while.  
> God, I'm so sorry.  
> But hey! Next up, fixing things time, with actual Flynn/Carrie progress past the frenemy stage, and our regularly scheduled Julie and her actual phantoms content which we were so sorely lacking in this fic. I'm so ready to write Julie again, you have no idea.  
> As always, thank you for sticking with me, all of your comments (or, you know, screaming) have fueled me, and every sign I get that somebody has read and enjoyed this fic is like the closest thing I get to a hug most days. Thank you all so much, and I promise I will be returning with more shenanigans soon.


End file.
